Holding Both

More Than I Expected

Yesterday was more than I expected.

I sold out in an hour and a half.

Even writing that feels hard to fully take in.

There was a steady line at the table. Conversations, introductions, familiar faces and new ones. People asking questions, sharing stories, choosing their loaves with intention.

And then, just like that…

it was all gone.

The bread.

And something else I did not expect.

Over twenty beeswax bread bags found their way home.

That part caught me off guard in the best way.

Because those bags were never meant to be just another offering.

They were something I made to honor the bread. To carry it well. To extend the care that begins in my kitchen into someone else’s home.

And to see them received that way…

it meant more than I can easily put into words.

The Moment After

When it was over, there was a quiet.

The kind that comes after something full.

I stood there for a moment, taking it in.

Grateful.

Humbled.

A little overwhelmed, if I am honest.

Because this is something I have been preparing for, thinking about, working toward.

And yet, when it arrived, it felt different than I imagined.

Not bigger.

Just deeper.

And Yet This Weekend Holds More

And yet, this weekend holds more than just that.

Because alongside all of this,

the market, the preparation, the fullness of what unfolded,

is Mother’s Day.

And that day carries many things.

For some, it is joyful.

For others, it is complicated. Quiet. Heavy in ways that are not always visible.

I am learning that both can exist at the same time.

Gratitude and ache.

Joy and longing.

Fullness and absence.

What I Have Come to Understand

There was a time when I might have tried to separate those things.

To keep one feeling in one place, and another somewhere else.

But life does not really work that way.

And neither does this work.

Because even in the midst of yesterday,

in the conversations, in the sharing, in the simple act of offering bread,

there was something deeper moving underneath it all.

Connection.

Presence.

A kind of quiet understanding that what we carry into a moment is just as real as what is happening around us.

What the Table Holds

I have always believed that the table holds more than what is placed on it.

It holds stories.

It holds relationships.

It holds what is spoken, and sometimes what is not.

Yesterday, I saw that again.

In the way people lingered.
In the way they shared.
In the way something as simple as bread made space for something more.

Holding Both

So today, I find myself holding both.

Gratitude for what unfolded yesterday.
And a quiet awareness of what this day means, in all of its layers.

Neither one taking away from the other.

Both simply present.

And maybe that is the lesson.

That life is not meant to be felt in just one way at a time.

That we are capable of holding joy and tenderness together.

That something can be full, even when it is not complete.

A Quiet Thank You

To those who came to the market,

thank you.

For showing up.
For supporting this work.
For allowing me to be part of your table, even in a small way.

And to those carrying something more quietly this weekend,

I am holding you in that, too.

What Remains

This work continues to teach me something I am only beginning to understand.

That what we create,

what we offer,

what we build with our hands,

is never separate from who we are.

It all comes with us.

And somehow, when we allow it, it all finds its place.

Warmly,
Kathy
Art of The Crumb