I’ve had this little post in my Drafts for a bit, and tonight is the night to hit “publish” and get it in the books. Because, for one, I don’t have any new photos from the week (yet — I’ll be working on three posts starting tomorrow!), and two, these shots below and the stories behind them from a few weeks ago make me smile. You see back when Olivia went to elementary school ( 😉 ), my days at home were filled with lots of learning and playing with my middle girls, which made Claire and Emmy the sweetest playmates and the closest friends. Claire is inclusive and kind to Emmy, and Emmy adores Claire. Watching them mesh and play like they’re each other’s only sisters gives my heart a supercharge, honestly. I wanted to have our girls around two years apart in an effort to foster friendships between them, and man, so far so good. Olivia plays with Claire, Claire plays with Emmy, Emmy plays with Olivia, Claire plays with Chloe. Their fluidity is a dream come true, and it makes the tireless work of having 4 kids in 6.5 years worth it.
One of Claire and Emmy’s favorite things to do together after Chloe goes down for her nap is to prepare a picnic lunch, charcuterie plate style. 🙂 Claire has a knack for pulling beauty out of nowhere and magically mixing it in with whatever she’s doing, and her little lunches are no exception. Like I didn’t teach Claire how to pick a variety of finger foods and to cut up food into small pieces and to arrange them circularly on a plate. My guess is that she watched me work on a variation of a charcuterie board for our Freaky Feast at Halloween (I also made a small desert charcuterie board on Christmas Eve), but either way, Sis has the magic touch and Emmy is her perfect, most-obedient sous-chef.
And lest you think the girls stop at creating such a work of art for lunch, oh no, they max out by pulling out the mat and taking lunch outside. Every day. Complete with drinks, napkins, and a game to play when we’re done eating. Their lunches are 100% one of my favorite things about their season together at home. Mmm, I love them so much.
The last reason I want to get this post out and about is to clear the air a bit about that sweet mat of ours. Many of you know that I started Let’s Playground in 2014. Many of you know why I started the business: we were headed toward three years of law school for Ryan at a top 10 law school, he wasn’t going to be working during that time, and tuition was going to be $$. I had started praying for inspiration and pushing income-stream envelopes (do I freelance write? Do I make car seat covers?) when the light-bulb idea came to transform an outdoor tablecloth that Olivia and I used for messy play into “the playground” — a beautiful ground cover, one that could be wiped up and folded up tight and toted around with ease (you can watch our Kickstarter video here for a visual version of the story). I was talking to one of my best friends about my idea soon after that, and she enthusiastically supported me in my little dream, even to the point of wanting to join me in making the dream a reality. And so we began building Let’s Playground, and oh, how it was a beautiful adventure. We worked as cohesive business partners and best friends for a long time, but eventually, a few things changed and our partnership needed to end. This ripped my heart in two. After months of negotiations, I said farewell to a business and a mission that I passionately loved. I also lost my best friend. I communicated my heartbreak to an extent online, as I needed to explain to so many who had supported me in my venture that my path was changing, and I focused on the benefits of the change for me, but for the most part, I remained tight-lipped about it all. Although the essence of circumstances can be communicated without words, so I have since learned, and our legacies never leave us.
I have been consistently approached about Let’s Playground since its inception, even as I’ve been uninvolved with the business. People hear from wherever that I started the company and they want to know more. People want to talk business strategy and Kickstarter tips. People want to know product manufacturing ins and outs and how to start a business. Just last month, an old friend texted me and asked where he could get a mat for his new baby. I told him where to go. Just yesterday, a friend messaged me and asked how she could infuse a palpable passion into her product. I told her what to do. Every so often, someone will let me know that they don’t want to buy the mats because of how the company has changed since I left, but let me be as clear about that right here in this post as I am to those who say that to me in person: nothing makes me happier than seeing the mats in homes around the world. And knowing that Gathre, which is Let’s Playground re-branded, is now a family business, seeing it successful and soaring is a relief. The pieces of my heart that broke five years ago mended years ago, and I mean this every time I say it to a friend or a stranger or an acquaintance: get yourself a mat! Support Gathre. Support the purpose of the mats! Get on the ground with your precious kids and PLAY with them. The mats make it easy for you to connect with your children – to give them you – and the gift of time that we give to our children is priceless.
Now that I’ve cleared the air here, I don’t intend to post about that chapter of my life again, but rest assured that we adore and use our mat regularly. And always and forever do I hope to see mats in people’s living rooms and at city parks and sandy beaches. Catching glimpses of them in the wild still feels like a dream come true. So many of you were our first customers! My thanks goes to you, sweet friends, for helping to make that dream come true.
Long live messy, easy play and memorable moments with our babies. Life is a gift, and living it creatively and carefree with our little ones is a blessing.
xoxo
Jeni
