How Lucky I Have Been

It is a Sunday. My child is home with his homework, and I have come to the office by myself. When I sat down, a feeling came over me. All these years, I have been very lucky. The right people always seemed to come along, just when I needed them.

2021
That year, a friend who believed in me gave me my first bit of money to start with. It was not much, but it was enough to begin. I took the first step, and slowly there was a small company, and a team. Thank you, for believing in me when I was still nobody.

2023
That was my lowest time. My heart was in a bad place. Around then I met someone who was like an older sister to me. She listened to me. She let me say all the small, pointless things, and she told me I was a good person, a fine person. In those days I was full of doubt about myself. For someone who hardly knew me to see me that way, and to give me heart, meant a great deal. Slowly I found my footing again, and felt the warmth and the light come back. I was lucky to meet her.

2024
That year my body gave me a scare. In the days I waited for the results, I came very close to how fragile life is. There is so little we can do, in front of it. The results turned out fine. But it taught me something for good. Every morning the people I love are still here. I can breathe the fresh air. The sun is warm on my skin. The small flowers and the grass and the trees by the road grow quietly, alongside us. This is the greatest luck there is.

2025
This year, by chance, I came to know Gordon Gu. We have barely spoken more than a few words, but I could tell he is a good man. I am lucky that I can carry their work. It is beautiful, and a little wild, in the best way. After all these years in this trade, it was the first time I could hold my head up, sending something this beautiful, made in our part of the world, out to the rest of it.

There were low places on this road, and times when life shook me hard. But every time I look back, I do not see the hardship first. I see the people. One after another, they came at the right moment, and they gave me light.

I am grateful for all of it.

I think I live inside love. And I love my work.

— Marie, Founder of Lyfairs