Day 86: In Which I Write 5 letters

I awoke extremely happy (as I’d done for the past week — something I’d forgotten to write about, but there you have it, I have been very happy for over a week now) and eager to head to the study to continue sorting out my belongings. Today I’d planned on attacking my physical in-box.

I dug down to the very bottom of the pile of stuff in the in-box and worked on the least exciting task first: contacting the roofer again about a leak and contacting the retirement folks from when I was a teacher to gain access to my account. After that I wrote a condolence letter to Clare’s boyfriend on the loss of his grandmother. Then realizing I’d never actually written Clare a letter since she’d moved to Olympia, wrote her a quick note telling her how proud I was of her (oops, another thing I forgot to write about — stay tuned). I also wrote a note to my mom’s best friend, sending her a note she’d sent my mom and a note my mom had written to her but never sent. I sent my sister-in-law a note she sent us in 1981 and wrote her a small letter. Finally, I sent my childhood friend, Lori, a note just because she’d sent me a sweet birthday card (we share a birthday, including the year) and I’d not sent her a card this year because she was at Yellowstone all summer.

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The thing I was proud of Clare for was that she was named as Emerging Leader in a Conversion!

Here’s what the US Federation of Worker Co-ops had to say on Instagram:

Clare Follmann joined @orcabooksoly last September prior to its conversion to a cooperative. She became its president in February and led the board and staff to finalize the conversion on April 1, 2020 – all during a stay at home order. Conversions are businesses that have transitioned from a traditional business structure to a cooperative one.

Clare led the staff in planning a move to a new space, hiring new staff collective members, and securing EIDL and PPL loans during the pandemic. Clare’s leadership and commitment to cooperation made Orca Books Co-op’s recovery and conversion possible and successful.

US Federation of Worker Co-ops