“The ordinary arts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest” —Sir Thomas Moore

Simplicity: what a powerful and often misunderstood concept and practice. Some even shudder at the word, as it has often been weaponized by trying to tell us why we have too much stuff as Americans, how we live in excess, etc. And maybe some of that is true; but, that’s not what I’m here to talk about. In a lot of ways, 2020 restored a lot of simplicity in our lives as our normal routines were interrupted. I can’t speak for everyone, but in our family, we didn’t expect to find joy in the simplicity that 2020 often mandated.

You see, at the beginning of 2020, our family was running at fever pitch. Our little town had construction all along the main highway (the route into the Southern Entrance to Yosemite and pretty much the lifeblood of our town). That caused our cafe’s business to be down 40%, as most people couldn’t turn into our parking lot to purchase coffee. Then Covid hit, and we had to furlough our whole staff and business dropped to only 30% of NORMAL. Whew. We pivoted and launched this website, trying to make money any way we could (and a huge THANK YOU to everyone that has ordered from us!!). As we were beginning to see a bit of light during the Summer, our area was devastated by wildfires that threatened much of our area. It seemed like the cards kept stacking against us.

But you know what? In the midst of all of that, we discovered something we never expected to find: joy in living a simpler, slower life. You see, for the last decade, we had been running full speed ahead, and we were tired. Tired of measuring our "success” with profits, hours put in, and tasks accomplished. We were forced to find a new way of being. Most of our days last year were spent knowing that our business might not survive 2020. When we faced this fear head on, we were pleasantly surprised to realize that if that did happen, we would be ok. A thought I repeated to myself daily was, “Today is enough.” And physically, most days that is all we could focus on. One day at a time. The emergencies, twists and turns, and circumstances that shaped 2020 had forced us to live in the gift of the day—to live in the present.

Entering 2021, we both know our default personality traits are to push harder, do more, and rely only on ourselves. Progress! But, we are slowly learning that that kind of progress comes at a price that we are no longer willing to pay. We want to be great business owners, but we also want to practice a well-rounded life that treasures the small, daily joys—a morning cup of coffee enjoyed slowly in front of our wood stove, our children’s smiles and laughter as they play in the snow, taking time to connect with each other and with our true selves. May your 2021 bring you such simple moments of joy. We appreciate you.

- Casey and Alyssa