I get by with a little help from my friends…

Tonight Fort Myers Beach is enveloped in a deep sea fog. It’s been this way all day and honestly, there’s something soothing about it, like a blanket! The moon is almost full and it’s really quite spectacular outside. I had to take a break from this computer…it’s about gotten the best of me. Well, not really. Thank goodness!

We’ve been working really hard to get this website up and operational. It launches in the morning, ready or not! The trials and tribulations over getting it here the last few years have been intense at times. But more than anything, I have to say how appreciative I am of all the people who have helped us get where we are today!

The Beatles anthem, “I get by with a little help from my friends”, should be the theme song to my life! You know, when you own a business or do most anything, what no one realizes is just how many people are standing there with you when that moment comes that the task is complete, the project accomplished, the goal achieved. How many friends and customers and relatives have provided input and support and criticism and compliments. I cannot even begin to count. I’d be lost without them.

They say you learn more from your mistakes than you do from your successes and if that’s the case, I may be able to finally join that Mensa group! Lord knows I’ve had my fair share of them. Success for me at this point in my life isn’t monetary. This website has been a struggle for me with lots of false starts…and its “Success” will simply be knowing that I have answered the request made by so many of you for so many years. Sorry it took so long! Over the years, we’ve had so many customers ask us, “Do you have a website?”. We would cringe every time we heard those words, because we knew we should have… and now we do.

Finally. It’s a work in process like we all are, but it has a nice vibe. I love the fact that I get to tell stories on this page whether it’s about this place I call home and love so much, Ft. Myers Beach, or my sweet dog Stella or a crazy trend or whatever flips my fancy on any given day! My father was such a great joke teller. I always stumble on jokes, because I’m thinking about the punchline too quickly and laughing and getting off course. But I do think that I’m a fairly good story teller. At least that’s what I’ve been told. I hope you will enjoy these blog posts as I share with you things that happen in the stores or on the island or just wander through my crazy brain!

This site has genuinely been an effort of love. Love for you, our customers and friends who have kept my family in business for over 35 years. I sure wish my folks were here to see this! My father of course would laugh and say “nobody’s ever going to look at that damn thing!” My mom would have loved every bit of it. She would have loved the artistry, the creative elements and she would have relished in learning how to manage the details. Some things are bittersweet.

Most of all, dear readers, I’m grateful that we could finally give our friends and readers like you what they have been asking us for for so many years! I have to remember to put this down as one of the silver linings of the Covid-19 pandemic. Finally having time, being forced to take the time, to get something that’s been brewing and percolating, accomplished.

So thank you for everything you’ve done to make this happen…all of you! 
I’ve always gotten by with a little help from my friends, for each one of them, and you, I am grateful!

Good night!

-Anita