Studio St. Jean

I don't have any friends other than family. Everyone in my life is either a family member or is associated with me through our bead business. My father was in the military, so we moved all the time. I have no childhood school buddies. I went to college as an adult. I had a baby and was married, so there was no campus social life. I'm not whinning, I'm just stating the facts. In short...I have no "girl friends." All of my "social" life is business related.

What pre-empted this is that my customers make up my list of "friends." And though they are "customers," I consider them friends. I have one "friend" that I could ask to do anything and she would with out question. She has gone on week long teaching trips with me where there were no air conditioners. She went on a one day teaching trip with me where I had an allergic reaction and she had to drive my car 2 hours home while I basically passed out. I consider her a true friend.

I have 2 children. One is on the threshold of 20, and the other is 4. The 4 year old spends a lot of time with us at the shop. Most of my customers know our children. Our 4 year old, Chase, has had a "lovey" since the day he was born. It's a little blue blanket with a brown dog head sewn in the corner. He and this blanket are inseperable. Well about 3 months ago, he lost it in the parking lot of our shop. We looked every where. We posted reward signs. We went to Target, Walmart, Babies R Us, everywhere. We finally gave up, but Chase did not. Everynight he would bring up the loss of "Sheesh." One night he told my he had a great idea, he was going to ask Santa to bring him Shish back. The next day I was teaching one of my regular students and she asked if we had found Chases lovely. I told her what he had said the night before. She asked my to describe him and show her a picture. This all took place about 2 weeks ago. Well, she walked up to me this weekend at a bead show and asked if I had time to accept a present from her. She pulled out a box. When I opened it, "sheesh" was inside. It was in slightly better shape than the original, but beautiful!!! I started crying and hugging her. This is a TRUE friend. She spent hours on line looking for this stuffed animal. She made a huge difference in my sons life. He has a few questions about why Shish looks "fatter." But he has not let go of him yet. People like Pam are why I love my job. I love the fact that I consider many of my customers friends.