Get on The Bus
“You’re either on the bus or off the bus.”
–Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
A few weeks back, a couple of young women blew into Nosara and caught my attention. I first noticed them after yoga class as they carried two hand-painted driftwood signs that I didn’t stop to read. A few days later, I spotted them on the beach with a make-shift boutique on display.
This is Lizzy, who is 25. Her business partner is her older sister Kate. Lizzy and Kate design and produce a beautiful line of silk screened apparel under the business name ARTichoke. These aren’t any mediocre tourist tees, they are unique and intricate designs that display an eye for fashion and a talent for advanced screening techniques.
Trust me, I spent a summer working for a woman who silk-screened apparel from her home in Coconut Grove. Getting the register just right on a simple design is difficult. The ferns and feathers these women produce are exquisite.
They also seem to have a knack for selecting models.
I bought a long dress with a peacock feather design along the side and wore it that night even though I had nowhere to go. Over the next several days I continued to see Kate and Lizzy at yoga and around town and became interested in their story.
It turns out, they are from Cape Cod and have dreamed of opening a boutique together to bring exposure to their apparel line. But the enormity of taking on a brick-and-mortar lease threatened both their anemic bank account and their love of travel. Over many hours of discussion, it seemed as if they’d have to choose between their dream and their free-spirited sense of adventure.
Until they got on the bus.
Recently, Lizzy and Kate ignored reason and took the plunge–walking away from steady paychecks–and bought an old bus that they turned into a retail shop. On their website, www.plantgrowcreate.com you can see the process it took to transform an old vehicle into a trendy shop on wheels. Now, they can motor all over the Cape, to Boston and other places, selling their own apparel and artwork of others.
Lizzy and Kate did what many of us spend a lifetime mulling over–they got on the bus and followed their dreams.
Living your passion can’t be done half-way. You can sit on the edge of the pool dangling your legs in the water, but you’ll never really experience the exhilaration of the total plunge. Or you can ignore the judgments and cautionary tales that others offer, and just dive right in.
On the road to your dreams, you’re either on the bus or not.
