Here is the 'me' part.
I, eagerly, waited outside for the doors to open. I was eagle-eyeing every employee in sight for one of them would, eventually, come and open the doors for the impatient customers (me). I looked up at my grandfather who just smiled back at me. He, more than anyone, knew how anxious I was for those doors to open. It was our weekend thing, actually. Every Friday, I would ask him if he would take me to the novelty store the following day and every Saturday I was up with the rooster and knocking on his door (he was our neighbor).
The older lady with shocking red hair came and unlocked the doors. I almost always saw her smiling face when we came. Like grandpa, she probably noticed my excitement too. My grandfather opened the door for me and I made a beeline to the bead section, almost leaving a dust trail for him to ingest as he tried to catch up to me. Once I laid eyes on all the different bead colors, shapes, and sizes, I was utterly spellbound. I felt like the happiest little girl in the whole wide world. Looking back at that little girl now, the sparkle in her eyes was hard to miss. Her happiness just oozed out of her.
Those days were the beginnings of my entrepreneurial undertakings. I designed and handcrafted the simplest, beaded, jewelry sets and sold them to my classmates for a couple of dollars. With the money I made, I would buy candy from our corner market, sell them in between jewelry orders at school, and use the profits to buy jewelry-making supplies. I would, of course, buy more candy for the extra earnings. In hindsight, the thought of reinvesting my profits from my ‘candy business’ to continue my ‘jewelry business’ was quite advanced thinking for a 7 year-old.
That love for shiny, colorful, handcrafted, pretty things never, ever left me. Fast-forward to today – I still make shiny, colorful, handcrafted, pretty things and I, absolutely, love it! I am fully concentrated in my jewelry business and, thankfully, make enough profits from that to maintain and grow it so that I can do without the candy side-job. I have my own home studio, which I have gradually stocked, and continue to do so.
By the way, my name is Marisol. I am an avid reader, grammar junkie, a hungry cook, and a very spur-of-the-moment traveler, among many other things. I am passionate, outgoing, witty, curious, spontaneous, silly, a perfectionist, and sometimes plain crazy. I was born in Miami Beach and have lived in Miami all my life, although I would love to live in the middle of nowhere, away from the hustle and bustle of this hectic city life. I am bilingual, thanks to my Cuban parents. I love life and one of my favorite aspects of it is color. I just love colors.
I appreciate your taking the time to read about me and visiting my shop, even if just to window-shop. I am a message away, should you need anything, or even to say, “Hi!”
It’s been very nice “meeting” you!
xo,
Marisol
