It's the evening before we launch the new Cowboys and Astronauts web shop to the world. We're sitting here looking at each other--taking a break from the work of testing everything we can and trying to get everything just right--and we're having a moment of disbelief and wonder at how far the Cowboys and Astronauts adventure has come. We also wanted to share one of our favorite shop stories with you...
Not too long after we opened, a young girl, all of 9 years old, came into the store by herself looking for a birthday gift for her dad. She stood anxiously in front of the apothecary wall before blurting out as we approached, "He has a beard." Her eyes lit up when we invited her to smell test some beard oils and taught her how her dad could use them before letting her be. Then, she went to the table and dumped out her money and counted it coin by coin (twice) at the foot of our giant fiberglass astronaut. We could barely hide our tears at being part of her special moment of pride and caring and love. (Fast forward to the happy ending...we made sure that she had what she needed to take her prize home.)
We simply couldn't have known in late 2017—when all we had was an empty side street storefront and our trusty astronaut and the lark to follow a dream and open a lifestyle shop in the best damn neighborhood anyone could ask for—that our world would come to be graced by thousands of these stories.
Through our customers and neighbors and friends and colleagues we've had the profound pleasure to be part of so many lives in ways big and small...and for this we feel an immeasurable gratitude that can only be expressed in the deepest language of the heart.
So now, we look out the window on the wider world yet again, wondering who we will have the pleasure to meet when we push the button and share the next Cowboys and Astronauts "storefront." We are nervous for sure, but we are comforted to know that there are thousands of untold stories waiting to happen. We don't have a crystal ball, but we know this to be true...If we can continue to play a role in real lives no matter where they might be, then the long and sometimes uphill journey will have been worth every little step.
See you in the cloud(s)!
Matthew and Greg
Not too long after we opened, a young girl, all of 9 years old, came into the store by herself looking for a birthday gift for her dad. She stood anxiously in front of the apothecary wall before blurting out as we approached, "He has a beard." Her eyes lit up when we invited her to smell test some beard oils and taught her how her dad could use them before letting her be. Then, she went to the table and dumped out her money and counted it coin by coin (twice) at the foot of our giant fiberglass astronaut. We could barely hide our tears at being part of her special moment of pride and caring and love. (Fast forward to the happy ending...we made sure that she had what she needed to take her prize home.)
We simply couldn't have known in late 2017—when all we had was an empty side street storefront and our trusty astronaut and the lark to follow a dream and open a lifestyle shop in the best damn neighborhood anyone could ask for—that our world would come to be graced by thousands of these stories.
Through our customers and neighbors and friends and colleagues we've had the profound pleasure to be part of so many lives in ways big and small...and for this we feel an immeasurable gratitude that can only be expressed in the deepest language of the heart.
So now, we look out the window on the wider world yet again, wondering who we will have the pleasure to meet when we push the button and share the next Cowboys and Astronauts "storefront." We are nervous for sure, but we are comforted to know that there are thousands of untold stories waiting to happen. We don't have a crystal ball, but we know this to be true...If we can continue to play a role in real lives no matter where they might be, then the long and sometimes uphill journey will have been worth every little step.
See you in the cloud(s)!
Matthew and Greg