This week I’d like to continue introducing you guys to more members of the Cat & Craft team.
These two awesome souls came to be a part of our team in a very cool way, which I’ll do my best to explain below..
Rewind to last fall. It was September 9th, and while our physical location was still under construction our Instagram page had been up and running for quite some time. We were blessed to have some regular social media followers keeping up with our progress and supporting us.
This is the day our sweet Rugby had to depart from his life with us. It was a beautiful morning, complete with a butterfly exiting its chrysalis on the back porch. Rugby took his final stroll around our garden before crossing over the rainbow bridge in a warm pool of sunshine, and once Andrew and I pieced ourselves back together, we went down to the beach to have a ceremony in honor of the time we had shared with him.
I posted a photo of his life ceremony to our Instagram page, and a kind soul sent me a message telling me he happened to have been on the same beach and saw us, and that he was holding space for us during this time of transition. The fact that a complete stranger had recognized us, witnessed such a special moment and was supporting us from afar was so magical and meaningful to me that it’s difficult for me to put it all into words.
Fast forward to December when we began hiring staff for Cat & Craft. A bright, bubbly young lady with a huge heart for cats – and people – came to interview for the Cat Lounge host position. During our conversation I learned her partner was none other than the same gentleman who saw us on the beach that day and had messaged us. And he happened to be a barista who was working for his parents coffee cart in Carlsbad.
Now there are many times when the universe has to hit me in the face to get my attention, but this time I felt the message in my heart loud and clear.
Sydney joined us as a Cat Lounge host, and later Eric joined us as a barista (don’t worry he’s still supporting his family’s coffee cart too). And guess where they had their first date years prior? The Cat Cafe in downtown San Diego!
With that, let me get on with introducing you to Eric and Sydney…
You now know Eric came to work for us as a barista because he was seriously meant to. He prefers to go by the name TumERIC (like Tumeric, the healing spice… get it?) and the name is totally fitting.
He and Sydney have four cats – Bleu, Opie, Floyd and Roxanne. They also make wire wrapped jewelry (their business is called Wrapping Cats) – and they very much want to visit Peru!
You’ll find Sydney in the cat lounge rocking a sweet set of cat ears and expressing her true self in fun, funky clothing as yet another means of artistic expression!
She’s also a Reiki level 1 and 2 practitioner and is always very much in tune with how the cats and their visitors are all vibing on any given day.
So next time to you stop by be sure to say hello to these two and thank them for the work they do.
Next week I’ll shine the flashlight on our next two superstars… so stay tuned!