From June to Bella, to Bella June…

It didn’t take me long to come up with a name for my floral design business- the most inspirational woman and the most precious little girl took the lead roles in this. (A note to my boys- you were but a twinkle in my ovaries at the time of making this decision, my next business venture will be named after you, I can see it now; ‘Fletch and Ro hands free nappy changer’ – laugh all you like but there’s a serious gap in the market for hands-free parenting- that, or extra hands!)

Anyway, I was inspired to take up floristry by my nana June she was the most incredible and vibrant lady, always looking on the bright side and as a child filled my world with glorious colour. She was by no means a florist, could kill a cactus; but her colourful outlook on life was enough to inspire anyone to bloom. Unfortunately it wasn’t until she passed that I discovered in which field I would blossom – floristry. In fact, my first serious floristry job was my Nana Junes funeral, but from all the tears and grief a beautiful new adventure was rooted. Bringing me to today, two days before my grand opening of Bella June Flowers.

So, over caffeinated and under pressure I am frantically chasing those last-minute niggles; I have no card machine, no internet, no website and shed loads of stock still to arrive, but I will do this and as Nana would always say ‘I’ll do it my way’. Thank god for amazon prime and portable card machines – that’s one niggle ticked off.

With the new shop opening drawing near I have been thinking a lot about my nana, the things she might say and the encouragement she might offer- I remember the breathtakingly tight hugs and the way she would just tell me exactly what I wanted and needed to hear regardless of whether she actually agreed with the words she spoke. Her unconditional love, undoubting belief and uncontrollable laughter will remain with me beyond her physical life and I can only hope I pass this down to my own children. Speaking of which: those beautiful, funny, infuriating little buggers: Bella, fletcher and Romeo- full of energy, affection and poop. Yep, by day I am an entrepreneur, hopefully soon an established and successful entrepreneur. By night I am a successful butt wiping, nose blowing, vomit washing butler- (alongside my patient and undeniably handsome better half-  he is whole other blog- I’ll save that one for another day ladies 😉

My struggles with juggling parenting, wifing and entrepreneuring are not uncommon, nor are they insignificant or without joy- every morning is a battle- a battle with the detangling brush, the school shirt buttons (they do not make the holes big enough!!) and a battle between two headstrong children who both want to eat with the same damn spoon despite there being 12 identical ones in the cutlery drawer. And although I don’t always feel full of victory after the drama; I always feel pride and worth and love- and I pray that I made nana feel like that just the same as my babies make me feel.

If I have learnt one thing from being a hard working mum with a dream- it is to thrive off the people you love- the ones that love you back in the same way, the ones that will be there to see you cut the ribbon on your new shop, wipe baby vomit from your shoulder and jump in the bin to squash the cardboard down- those are the people that matter, because they are the continuation of the ones that inspired you to get to where you are.