After six months on lockdown and zero in-person events (including closure of our flagship store), we eagerly hit the road to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, one of our favorite spots, to deliver new designs. We blazed through the Western highways and wrapped up the road trip in a day, arriving from California into the Tetons just after midnight.  

The lovely team at Belle Cose, our gracious host, had a private cottage waiting for my kids and me just off of the square. After a fantastic night’s sleep, I headed to town to set up the trunk show. We had a lovely, carefully masked and successful trunk show in a couple of the Belle Cose stores off of Jackson square. The pace of things has slowed — our planning, our activities, our constant traveling — and as a result, conversations seem less rushed and run deeper. It felt good. A new awareness seems present. The importance of lending a hand to friends and strangers has never felt more pressing, and more than anything, the importance of truly listening seems easier. We loved meeting new friends and clients through our host.

I took a midnight hike under the Jackson stars. As I was breathing in the medicinal mountain air, I was exhaling the tough times for us as a business since COVID and the repercussions around the world. Surrounded by such majesty that evening, the healing powers of Mother Nature immediately set in. I was reminded of how incredibly resilient we are as a human race. I reflected on the devastation after Hurricane Katrina which seemed so grim (and was) but the many silver linings thereafter due to the shift in thinking of people, a determination to rebuild better and a craving by many to help our communities and fellow neighbors. I certainly think there has been a shift in mindset by many as a result of this unforeseen experience. In addition, we are experiencing a renewed sensitivity to humanity with a call to reverse racism in our country and beyond our borders. What many times feels like too great of a test in our lives results in positive outcomes that were initially hard to foresee.

We managed to squeeze in a little fly fishing. I bought my son his first fly rod, pocketknife and a kit for tying his own flies. We also dipped into the Jackson Hole Polo Club a few times to say hello to our Jackson equestrian buddies. It was three years ago where we hosted one of our favorite events, a slow food inspired farm-to-table dinner at sunset on the polo field with about 100 guests. The notion of a gathering like this seems remote, but we know all too well how time flies and just around the corner, we will be hosting another big dinner and gathering of friends where COVID stories will be shared as a thing of the past and a moment in time. 

xx

Elizabeth