It StartedWith This Owl

The Canvas

I was in Germany because I had taken the first airplane flight of my life, to stay a month with my daughter. It was a hard season, and I had no plans beyond getting through it. I was not looking for a purpose. I was not looking for a business. The owls caught my attention first.

Then I read the words.

What stayed with me was not the owls alone. It was how directly the canvas asked. It did not say “do more” or “be better.” It asked me to know who I am, and it left the answer to me. For the first time in a long while, that felt like permission to put myself first.

Keeping the Question

I came home with that question. I did not turn it into a plan. I kept it the way you keep a good cup of coffee in your hands on a quiet morning: slowly, and without hurrying to finish it.

The idea of a business did not reach me until 2023. That is eight years of letting the question sit. If you have ever wondered whether you started too late, or whether what you are carrying matters because it has no plan around it yet, I hope those eight years give you some room to breathe.

What Grew From It

• The question: Who are you?
• The companion: the Glow Owl, who asks and then waits.
• The pages: journals made for gentle reflection, not pressure.
• The letters: Letters from the Glow, where I sit across the table from you with coffee in hand.

I have loved coffee and owls ever since. I have gathered about twenty owls from places I have been: candle holders, lamps, figures, and more than one owl mug. Each one reminds me that the question is still worth asking.

If You Have Stopped Making Room for Yourself

You do not have to answer it all today. Pour a cup. Start small. If you would like the personal side of this story, I share it in Letters from the Glow, one cup at a time.

Every woman matters. You are one of them.