…and in a fairly long life as mine, there have been many ‘firsts’ 

This is my first blog post on my first ‘real’ webpage for my DREAM COME TRUE small business: FruBlomgren  

FruBlomgren is actually a first in ‘herself’ - the first time, that I - for real - have sprung into deep waters without a safety net… I quit my well-paid, nice and interesting job as a schoolteacher with a good pension - to fulfill my dream of living from my creativity. I had been dreaming about this for years - actually, already when I signed up for Etsy back in 2011, I thought of taking this giant leap into becoming an independent small business owner :-) 

I am a mother of 3 lovely boys — now all grownup young men, Frederik 23, Christian 29, and Anders 30, so I am also a provider and a caretaker - which actually was one of the main reasons for going around and about taking this step into what I saw as a dream, and also insecurity, and I needed a steady income to support my little family … 

So, instead, I went with another dream of mine - that of becoming a schoolteacher - and at the age of 40, I started at University College Lillebælt. For four years I studied Danish, English, Crafts, and Art - my four main teaching subjects - and I loved it. I felt very privileged to be able to educate myself - it was challenging, immensely intense, and very interesting - it was a formative journey indeed.  

Also, at the very beginning of my study, I met my husband, Ole - the love of my life, ❤️ actually, I chose him.  😉 I knew him a little beforehand and knew that he was single like me. So back in 2005, I wrote him a letter, and we’ve been together ever since. I am still very much in love with him and he is my soulmate, my friend, my lover, and my partner in every best sense of these words. Ole has 2 grown, lovely daughters - Johanne 29 and Karen 31 - and they each have two children - our four grandchildren: Anna 2, Aksel 2, Louis 5, and Emil 10 - and then we also have a 10-year-old white Collie named Skipper. We live just outside Fredericia, by the sea in the same house, that my boys and I have lived in since 1996. 

In my first job as a public-school teacher, I taught 10th graders - and I was SO lucky to be able to teach in all of my favourite subjects, which I also did when I later became a private school teacher. My last class, before I jumped into my fruBlomgren adventure, was 5th grade; full of eager, curious, lovely, lively, and adorable children. However, teaching filled my time so much, that there was no time left for creativity and creating by myself - and ever since I got my first real sewing machine when I was 9 years old - I have been kind of addicted to creating.

I live when I create, as simple as that, and I really needed to be able to create more - so in 2017 - when my boys had left home - AND with the kind support of my husband, I went to the headmaster of the school and handed in my resignation. 

BOY, was I shaking - what did I think - what was I doing? 

Well, I simply followed the renowned Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard’s predictions: 

''At vove er at tabe fodfæste for en stund, Ikke at vove er at miste sig selv''  

Translated this is:  

''To dare is to lose your foothold for a while, Not to dare is to lose yourself'' 

So, I dared - and I here I am - 4 years later - from my very first order - selling my Mr. Beanish Angel to an American woman on Facebook - till today, where I have sold almost 20.000 embroidery design packs to customers practically all over the world. My Etsy shop, FruBlomgren turned 4 just recently - on January 24th and my dream has come true - I live my dream of living from my creativity. 

Of course, there have been days with doubt, with anxiety, with some kind of loneliness and longing for colleagues and the children, whom I taught - of course - HOWEVER since my ‘first’ step into becoming fruBlomgren, I have not regretted doing this. I love what I do and with this first blog post and certainly not the last, I invite you in on my journey so far and the days to come :-) 

Thank you so much for reading this post - my next one will be about my first encounter and adventure with machine embroidery …