No Regrets . . . Follow Your Heart

When I founded Noodle & Boo, I had a very clear vision. I would start a company and build it into a crazy successful company and use a large portion of the profits to fund initiatives that helped children in need. Gosh, it sounded so easy . . . build an empire . . . help children . . . as my five-year old says, “easy-peasy!”

My grandmother passed away on August 17, 2005, two months after I launched Noodle & Boo. If you have ever started a company you know how hard it is . . . my grandmother was that person who absolutely believed in me. She saw me through rose-colored glasses and never let me forget she adored me. She was the quiet voice that whispered “you can do it!”

As I was boarding the plane to go to her funeral, I was having a “what the heck have you done” moment. With my husband’s blessing, I had cashed out our life-savings with the goal that I was going to help people by making bath and body products. I was having a “you might be crazy” moment.

As I was sitting on the plane reading, I came to poem by W. A. Dromgoale.

The Bridge Builder

An old man walking a lonesome road,
Came at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm vast and wide and deep.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The rolling stream had no fears for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” said a fellow traveler near,
“You are wasting your strength with building here,
Your journey will end with the passing day,
You never again will pass this way.
You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build you this bridge at eventide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head,
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followeth after me today,
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
The chasm that was nought to me,
To the fair headed youth may a pitfall be.
He too must cross in the twilight dim -
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.”

Noodle & Boo is my “bridge.” I sat there and cried tears of sadness and of joy. It was affirmation of my convictions and somehow even though my grandmother was gone, there was a little voice letting me know I was on the right track. Whatever the outcome, I will have no regrets.

Happiness is following your inner voice and being true to your convictions . . .