About a week ago, I had sad news delivered to me, in gentle fashion, by the friend deemed most suited to be a comforting voice, on a difficult announcement. Our original Katmandu Trading Company location, in downtown Hokah, Minnesota, had recently burned to the ground.

"Time crumbles things," Aristotle once said. He was quite correct, but so long as there is time, the continued ripples of our actions carry ever onward.

I will always remember the kindness and quiet support of our original landlord, who first gave a couple kids the chance to live our dream. Each day, I recall the manner in which good people of a small town quickly embraced a corner of the world they had never been exposed to before. I am forever thankful for the way my home community lifted us up and kept us going, in our earliest and most vulnerable of days.

All these memories and countless acts of kindness are imbued into my character now, having become part of me, Katmandu, all that we touch, and then continuing their journey on from there. In this way we all live forever, for better or worse, in everything we do, each day we are here. Though bricks may turn to ash, a legacy of love will always shine bright.