🍂 Autumn ~ The Most Wonderful Time of the Year 🍁

Here’s why I love Autumn…

It’s not just the Fall colors of autumn leaves changing and brightening up the landscape with what I call “fireworks stuck into trees,” nor is it just the cooler days & nights. It’s not even the back-to-school routine that puts the day into little airtight compartments.

It’s all of those, but it’s just the Spirit of Autumn ~ The way we all draw together to celebrate the light in the darkness.

The way a single tree can make us ooohhh and ahhhh as if we were watching a fireworks display.

The way everyone starts making PSL memes on-line and joking with each other about that one flavor.

The way we start baking and sharing recipes and meals with one another.

The way we connect to our collective communities after a summer of running all over the place to vacation.

Autumn is a homecoming, to ourselves and to each other. It’s a season of connecting with our kindred spirits, our families, our communities.

Fall Festivals, pumpkin patches, Halloween parades ~ In a word: Community.

I don’t know what it is about Autumn that seems to bring all of us together. It could be the many ways I listed above, but one thing is for certain: It’s a time of restoration & reflection, of simpler times and activities that delight us, like jumping into a pile of colorful leaves, or handing out pieces of candy to neighborhood children.

This is why I love Autumn.

One Year Anniversary

A whole year! Let's avoid any cliches about time, flight, and fun, but it is safe to say that time has been relative over this past year. 

We opened on Black Friday of 2015, and celebrated our one-year anniversary on Black Friday of 2016. The store received what I like to call "The Big Re-Arrange," as new products were placed on the shelves, additional lighting was added throughout the store, and a fresh coat of purple paint was added to the front door and shutters (which finally made their way back up on the side of the building).

It would take much too long to enumerate all of the things that have happened in the last year, so I'll sum up...

1. Community ~ The store was never about one person; it has always been about giving back to those who support our labor of love.

2. Connection ~ Meeting so many kindred spirits over the past year has got to be the highlight of being a small business owner. Learning about people's challenges and triumphs, their goals and dreams, and lightening the load of their burdens and losses.

3. Caring ~ Every day since we opened, I have been witness to the most caring group of customers ever to grace our space. From pay-it-forwards, to hugs, to laughs, and some tears, the customers who enter Kindred Spirits have brought in their individual and collective caring spirits. They have added love, laughter, and lightness to the shop.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't give credit to those who have stood by me throughout the past 365 days. To label these days would be unfair to the individual moments of hard work, tireless effort, collaboration, ingenuity, passion, love, kindness, patience, playfulness, and dedication. To my Kindred Crew, you have my eternal thanks and love for all you have each done to make Kindred Spirits Books & Gifts a gem in Hellertown.

So if you have driven by the shop, and have always meant to stop in, we invite you to slow down, turn around, and spend a little time with us to Treat Your Spirit :)

~Blessings~ * ~Blessed Be~ * ~Namaste~