A Note From Julia About What’s Next

Hi. I’ve had this letter to you on my heart for many, many months.

Since my last blog and last newsletter my head has felt too foggy to write, my heart too overwhelmed, and my hands… way too busy to complete this message.

As you may know Thanks, Julia opened its doors four months before the global pandemic began in November 2019. I launched this online business in honor of Lou, my second child, on his first birthday. By March 2020, most of us began facing those “uncertain” and “unprecedented” times. Since then 718,681 COVID-19 deaths have been reported in the United States.

For a minute or two, the pandemic felt like it would be a collective experience but everyone’s relationship to it ended up being wildly and tragically different. As someone who encouraged others to invest in their own support system to add value to their life, career, social time, passion projects, etc., the work Thanks, Julia set out to do was extra challenging, but in a way that wasn’t fulfilling me.

Why? Simply put, because I needed the same help you needed. I wasn’t an expert in pandemic survival who also managed households. And I didn’t want to become that.

Today, many of us are coming up for air while simultaneously grasping for the hope that we’re nearing the end of this. I’m not sure what to say in response to, “how much longer” (when my kid asks) and I’ve stopped obsessing over the predictions. I’ve just settled into where I’m at today, doing the best I can to stay emotionally, mentally, and physically healthy so I can show up for the people that matter most these days.

So what’s this all mean for Thanks, Julia?

I don’t have the time or capacity for working on or for this business. For now, I’d like to hit the pause button and consider coming back to it one day down the road. I like the idea and concept of Thanks, Julia and I think it could work and will one day. I’ve enjoyed the clients I’ve helped. I even have ideas of new services and courses which I’ll create when I return.

Until then…

1. Will you pray for my Dad? His life-changing news of cancer came to us in May 2020. As my brother has said a few times the “nice” thing about cancer is the longer amount of time you have to prepare for the goodbye, I guess said in comparison to, say, losing a loved one in a tragic car accident. I’ll tell you, the journey isn’t much easier. If you haven’t lost someone to cancer yet, you eventually will. And it will be terrible. There will be days you are so full of rage, days you are so full of sadness, days you can’t imagine your heart having more empathy, and days you just shut down and curl up. The anticipatory grief of losing someone you love is terrible.
2. Know that I’m doing ok. I’m living a very fulfilled, whole life filled with so many joyful days with Mark, Archie, Lou, and Chauncey. I love love, LOVE homeschooling Archie. It’s pushed me to face myself, to question who I am and where I am today. While the work has been hard and at times, very raw and uncomfortable, I am so grateful for the investment of time I’ve given to this process and more importantly, grateful for the time I’ve had for my inner work.

Thank you for your curiosity in this company. Stay in touch, email me any time or follow my personal Instagram account for a mix of Waldorf mom life moments and real, WTF moments as I absorb the world around me.

Wishing you, your family, and your home so many blessings. 

Thanks,
Julia