I Believe in Angels...

Good morning!

Those of you who are faithfully following this trusty little blog know that I have been at the end of my proverbial rope lately trying to get my ducks in a row and pull together my room at the Green House. The good news is that because you're reading this I'm not locked away in a psych ward somewhere (I don't think they give you computer access there even if you do have nice manners!).

Anyway, last week good old Murphy and his stupid law once again proved to be correct: Whatever CAN go wrong will. Remember those yummy wood veneer trees that I've been raving about that I was supposed to be cutting out today and applying to my lovely deep bourdeaux walls? Well, believe it or not I still do not have the wood veneer. I have been waiting at the office now since 7:30 am because the Fed Ex truck should be rolling up any minute with this 78 pound box that I have been tracking online like a hawk. The funny thing is that the owner of this company is one of my husband's closest friends, so you wouldn't THINK someone I have a personal relationship with would throw me under the bus like this, but yes, I am officially road kill now. Here it is the 18th hour and I am still missing this crucial component in the room. Nice, huh?

All of this pressure and stress came to a boiling point yesterday when I was at a gathering for The Georgetown Jingle, another wonderful project I am involved in that benefits children with cancer at Georgetown Pediatric Cancer Center. There I was, surrounded by other people that I respect (but don't know very well) in the DC Design World, and one person innocently asked me how things were going with Green House. And yes, you guessed it, the floodgates opened.

I had a full scale panic attack right there in front of a room full of total strangers, explaining about the trees, the pressure, just everything came tumbling out between my tears. I was immediately embraced by all of these relative strangers...who turned out to be angels.

First off, Camille Saum told me that there was NO WAY that I should be taking on a project like this myself. I explained to her that I had no other alternative and just like that she and Ashley Meyer Klick got on the phone with David Herchek (Hillary Clinton's designer) and asked him to recommend someone who had a woodworking shop that could help me out. Within minutes I was on the phone with Graham Entwhistle, the owner of Out of the Blue Woodworking in Baltimore based on this one phone call. Not only was Graham willing to rearrange his entire schedule today to help me, he even went out to his local arts and crafts retailer and found BIG SHEETS OF DOUBLE STICKY TAPE that he said we could apply to the back of the wood veneer and put them on the walls AFTER the carpet was installed so there would be no mess in the room trying to glue the trees to the wall (which was my biggest concern). Think about it...on a Sunday afternoon Graham gets a call from a total stranger begging for help, and he takes the better part of his day to actually help me out before he's even met me. Would you have done that for a stranger?

Add in to the mix the fact that my golf simulator is being delivered to the Green House today at 10 am, but there was no way I could be HERE at my office waiting for the Fed Ex delivery AND in Virginia at the Green House at the same time. Well, Gloria De Lourdes Blalock said that she would be willing to go to the Green House to accept my delivery for me, and then Brad Weidner offered to drive from Mt. Airy to L&M Designs and wait in my store all day if necessary for the Fed Ex package if I needed to take care of other things. Wow.

Then to cap off my day, my lovely friend and client Sara Friedman who is doing some gorgeous photography that will be on display in the room saw my post on Facebook about my panic attacks and showed up on my doorstep last night at 11pm just to make sure I was okay and talk me down from the ledge so to speak. We talked into the wee hours and she came to my rescue figuratively and literally. Another angel.

Can you imagine how overwhelmed I am to be on the receiving end of all of this kindness? Gloria summed it up nicely when she told me that there was no shame in asking for help when you really need it, and she's right. Too often I internalize things because I've always had only myself to rely on to get things done but there is so much power in having the courage to ASK when you need a helping hand, or a shoulder to cry on, or just need a friend. We all get overwhelmed from time to time, and we all have our own burdens, whether they're Showhouse related or not. We just need to realize that we all have people that care about us in our lives, and that we're never ever really alone.

Please go out and spread some kindness today...and know that your guardian angels always have your back. I'm counting down the days until October 10th when the Green House opens to the public, because there is no doubt that my room is going to ROCK YOUR WORLD thanks to a little help from my friends.

xoxo,

Lynni