Pooka Creations is born, which makes today much better than yesterday.

My daughter is smart,  pretty, funny, stubborn and talented. She lives far away from us, in North Carolina where the weather is kinder to her, and where she has a southern-gentleman beau, who comes from a good family. She has a dream and a wide practical streak, which have often been in conflict.

Today, I am profoundly grateful for ALL of that. (Well, not so much the far-away part, but there are good-enough reasons for it, so I survive.)

Yesterday, an event at the hotel pretty much wreaked me. Ever since then, I’ve been weepy and anxious and deeply, deeply sad. I’m going to detail the story in the next post, but first I want to encourage you to help bring a little something nice into the world.

Like Pooka Creations on Facebook.

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Today, the Ogre and I sent our daughter enough money to buy a professional button maker. She will use it to start her own small business. At first, she’ll make buttons – you know, those cute little 1″ buttons with clever or snarky images and sayings. Eventually she will reinvest her earnings to expand her line to magnets and jewelry and the like.

A year and a half ago, she was in the process of laying the groundwork for her business. She was saving money to buy her first machine and getting all the social media marketing tools in place. Then she lost her retail job, due to her rheumatoid arthritis. It was a huge blow. She’d been wanting to use her creativity professionally ever since she was a little girl, and that desire had intensified after she battled (and won against) cancer. (Yep, this is one 26 year old that’s been through the wringer.) After the loss of her job, the expense of a button maker was too much for the young couple.

Her dad and I have been setting aside a little cash, as we could, for a while now. (As you know, it hasn’t been easy for us lately either.) We planned to send the money to her for her birthday in April. After yesterday, however, it seemed suddenly very important for us to support her artistic dream and reinforce her practical plan NOW.

I’m asking you to give her a bit of moral support. Like her page. Observe from a distance as she builds her business and creates her inventory. When the time is right, send her link on to all the folks you know that would enjoy her particular brand of whimsy.

(Keep in mind she – as a an eager start-up – may be open to design requests and suggestions … got a favorite creepy quote you’d like? How about a pin with your website address or your book cover on it?)

All right. Enough mom-promotion.
But go like her page.

Later tonight, or tomorrow, I will share a very different story about a 20-something girl who was probably sweet and adorable – just like mine was – when she was little.  In the meantime, do me another favor: if you still have girls at home, go give then a kiss and tell them that they are smart, and pretty, and funny, and that they should keep their wits about them and keep their dreams alive, no matter what.

Creator of Pooka Creations.