Milestones

Everyone has milestones in their life, some more, some less.

Moving out, job, children - the list goes on and on.

Mine are: moved out at 18, emigrated to northern Germany at 25, married at 27, had children at 28 / 32 / 34, separated at 34, started a business at 35, started a new life at 41, got married again at 46, and bought a house at 50.

Then there was peace for a while, until this year. 2024 seems to have something in store for me again. In February, I received a devastating diagnosis, and I had two surgeries within a week. I was very, very lucky (as so often in my life), but it changed things. So, while I was still in the hospital, I reconsidered a few things.

Should it continue like this? Working 70+ hours a week? Always on edge, hardly any vacation, hardly any personal life? A resounding NO!

The decision to do something is also a decision, and that's how I approached it. Many people asked why I closed the business in Eckernförde. That was one of the decisions. You don't just destroy what you've built up, but you have to weigh things up. Can I still do justice to everything without me and my family falling by the wayside? A little here, a little there, and there's always something left over – I didn't want that anymore!

My focus is on colors, yarn, creativity, and time to knit patterns—all of this is only possible with a clear mind. I want to focus on the important things that define my business, not just "get things done and function."

The online shop is a separate business, and after 17 years, it requires a great deal of organization. Orders, inquiries, processing, production—everything has to be managed; it can't be done on the side.

And my personal life has also become more important again; I promised my husband that. I'm not back to my old health yet, so I only work half days until the afternoon. During those hours, I'm in the office, sometimes in the shop, pulling strings. After that, I only answer inquiries or do social media in my home office—that's it.

Now I'm back to the milestones. We bought a house in 2018, a very large one, as two of our six children moved in with us. The two children lived on the upper floor, and we made some adjustments downstairs, and everything worked out well.

Now I am giving my daughter the wings she needs.

She's the last child to move out, and we gain an entire floor! A large office, a bathroom with a bathtub, and a cool north-facing bedroom—it's a celebration. My mother's heart bleeds, of course, but I know my child is happy and doing very well, and lives only half an hour away.

Another milestone will be a trip, something I already knew in the hospital. For the reasons mentioned above, I haven't seen much of the world so far; it hasn't been a problem or a limitation for me. But when you get the feeling that time can run out quickly, your perspective quickly changes.

So we'll be boarding the ship in fall 2025! I'll report back then.

Until then

Your Melanie