Entrepreneurs and 90 years

Grandma's designs

Sitting on a shelf high up in a closet at my grandmother’s house is a box full of clothing designs my grandmother once sketched out.  There are designs after designs colored on paper – designs that she created almost 70 years ago.

My grandmother told me the story of how she entered a contest while in high school and ended up winning a scholarship to study fashion design in college.  Her goal was to be a dress designer and she learned to sew so that she could bring her creations to life.

My grandmother married her high school sweetheart when she was about 20, the appropriate age back then.  By the time she was 25 and my mother was 3 she was widowed; my grandfather having been killed in WWII.

Things changed then.  Things were different back then, too.  Women didn’t enter the workforce or have careers like they do today.  My grandmother never really got to fully explore her talents or create a business from it.  Instead, her designs lay in a box in a closet for her grandchildren and great-grandchild to marvel at.

My grandmother turned 90 today and this past weekend we helped her celebrate the milestone.

Me, grandma and my sister, Hayley

I’m amazed by all that my grandmother has witnessed in the past 90 years, especially the advancements in technology.  Grandma’s completely fascinated with digital cameras despite being confused about where the “film” actually goes.  (On our last trip to see her, Syd and I took photos and went to Walgreens to have them printed out so that grandma could have a new album to look at after we left.  Unfortunately, her memory isn’t so good,  making it a challenge to find where she even stuck the album in the first place.)

If grandma were much younger now I’m sure things would be different for her.  Perhaps she would have pursued her career as a fashion designer.  The way we lives our lives now, the opportunities we have before us and the ability to communicate efficiently and share information makes our environment different from what it once was when grandma was young.  And yet, do we take advantage of it or do we take it for granted?

My birthday is also today; grandma and I have been celebrating together for 41 years now.

It’s time to get back to my entrepreneurial ways – lots of meetings this week and Biz in a Boxx’s to showcase.  New ideas on the horizon and more kids to reach so that they can learn to prosper through entrepreneurship for many decades to come.

Happy Birthday Grandma.

Melissa

Biz in a Boxx

Tagged as: business for kids, Entreprenuership Small Business Global Business Education, kids business, kids business ideas, young entrepreneur, young entrepreneurs