patience
I guess we all have things we are good at, and things we are not. Virtues that perhaps we’re born with, and some we are not. Patience is not something that comes naturally to me at all, never has.
I wrote last month about the International Beachcombing Center and how excited I was and am about making the dream a reality. It will become a reality, but it might take a little more time than I expected. I can’t snap my fingers and make a museum appear. A museum fairy did not appear either, bibbidy bobbidy boo. Amazing, incredible things have happened. We raised nearly $25,000 in a month on the gofundme campaign from around the world, and I am so grateful to everyone who has supported this project and our mission to create a permanent home for a world-class international collection of beachcombed items as well as promoting awareness of coastal erosion and marine debris.
I have had so many meetings in the past month- from legal, accounting, real estate, budgeting and board meetings to economic development and tourism, grant writing and meetings with other museums, it’s been packed with a lot of information… and a few Christmas gifts were marked to the wrong kids; the holidays were a blur. It’s all been fascinating and I am excited about the future.
But we are not where I had hoped we would be, and we aren’t ready to move in yet. There is still a lot to do. The building I had originally hoped to open as the museum didn’t work out, through no fault of ours, and now we are in search of another location. It’s a setback, but things happen for a reason, and I am going to use the time I have now to sort and organize the collection and prepare for when we do find the perfect space. So, more real estate meetings!
The money contributed to the gofundme stays where it is and doesn’t get withdrawn until it can be used for exactly what it was intended for- the outfitting of The Beachcombing Center. Which reminds me- we are going to launch when we open the location with that new name. Since we were founded historically as “The Sea Glass Center” in Maine in 2014, the board of directors decided the next evolution into simply “The Beachcombing Center” makes sense. It’s a simpler name. We will be rolling out a new logo that has a design not incorporating just the sea glass, though we may continue to make the popular sea glass globe design available as well on certain items.
Thank you for YOUR patience as I do my best to learn some, out of simply having no choice. When we secure the new location I hope you will get to visit and if you can’t, don’t worry- I will make it available virtually through online workshops, live feeds and other ways we can connect in the community. I am thankful to my board of directors and to those of you who have supported this project from the beginning. One way or another, we will make this vision a reality!