Milestones Quietly Observed

In the age of social media we don’t really quietly observe anything these days, do we?

We live in a society that demands and requires loud exclamations of accomplishments whether they are honest or embellished. We are led to believe that we should live louder, more public and less privately dictated by platforms that demand more and leave us feeling vulnerable and vacuous. We are often conflicted about where we derive our self worth. Is it within us or does it exist outside ourselves. Do we feel we have agency over our happiness, fulfillment and well being? Our brains are on overload and our attention spans are shrinking. I find myself craving silence as an act of self preservation. If I don’t have an appropriate amount of silence in my day I become irritable. So, we found ourselves in a quandary when we were trying to figure out how to celebrate a major milestone. Out of the Fire, on June 1st, celebrated 25 years! OK, I added an exclamation point at the end of that sentence to make the point louder! 25 YEARS??!! So, what are we doing for our 25th anniversary? The most comfortable way for us to celebrate is a quiet nod, a smile and a continued commitment to do what we’ve been doing for the past 25 years. We will just keep moving forward.

We asked you to share your memories and milestones you have celebrated with us. Please continue to share. Thank you for including us in your lives. We hope you consider Out of the Fire a steady friend that will be there for you with integrity, creativity and warmth. A velveteen rabbit, an anchor of comfort and a warm blanket of sanity in confusing and difficult times. Thank you for sustaining our vision over the past 25 years. Thank you for embracing us, appreciating us and showing up for us. The best way we can celebrate is to continue in our tradition of serving you with creativity, warmth and our passion to give back to a community that has fed us. We put our hearts and our souls into this place and we hope you can feel it radiating from us.

We will be celebrating our milestone quietly without pomp and circumstance. Thank you for all of the memories, love and support. We wouldn’t be here without you and we quietly realize that everyday!