It's a Sunday in August of 2023. Another hot day at the local Vineyard Artisans Festival on the porch of the West Tisbury Grange Hall. I am in my 27th year of setting up outside all summer, every Sunday, to sell my colorful Vintage Fabric Handbags.  I look at my watch and notice its almost 2 o'clock. Time to pack up, load up the trailer and head home. Today was a good day. 
I arrive at home, take a nap and our daughter and one month old grandson come over for dinner. I love this baby beyond measure. I want to be in his life!!  But being a full time artisan in the summer months has never left me much extra time for other pursuits. This year after what seems like a lifetime in the world of weekly shows, I feel something tugging at me, like there could be something else for me professionally and something different, but it's so abstract, so far away . I have no idea what it is yet.
I hear a little whisper inside: What if you took a year off? Or two?
Well, how would that work, and who would source elusive Vintage Fabrics, cut and sew bags, work the shows, design a new product line, stay up half the night figuring out how to create a reel on Instagram?
No can do. I push the whisper away. And wish I could clone myself to do it all : be a successful artisan, fun loving  and relaxed grandma and a person that has time to go to the beach on a hot day and can indulge in self time when the need arises.
Over the next few months the whisper persists. And then in the winter it gets really loud. I am not willing to ignore it anymore. Time to make a decision, some kind of a move. I decide: No more weekly Artisan Shows in 2024. Time to take a creative break, spend time with grand-baby and see what happens. Yeah! It sounds like a win. Over the next couple of months I find myself more and more detaching from SylvieBags. I think I may be getting done and and I realize I know myself all too well: Once I decide something, it's game on!
In the spring I drive my car and trailer to the biggest Antique show in America, Brimfield Flea market. I set up a big tent for a whole week and sell off my stash of Vintage fabrics .
The summer feels luxurious. No weekly craft shows, beach time, long Sunday morning breakfasts with my family and strolling my grandson through our community with all the time in the world.
I make a plan to sell all my remaining bag and pillow inventory and I set up at the Labor Day Vineyard Artisan Show and almost sell out.
Boom, done, finished! Along with the business goes my identity of cool Vineyard Artisan. I am 57 years old and starting fresh.
A week later, I walk my dog in Oak Bluffs and see one of my customers sitting on a bench waiting for the ferry to arrive. She says to me: "I am so sad you are done with SylvieBags. With you stopping, the island is losing a big part of its local color."
It hits me like a ton of bricks. The island is full of local color! Not handbags, but people!! in my 30+ years of living on Martha's Vineyard I have met quite a few of them. A lot of their stories are beautiful, inspiring, entertaining and empowering.
The words True Vineyard Color enter my mind. The podcast idea is born. Welcome!