
2024 Round Up
I usually creep into the new year. I don’t have a lot of that new year, new you energy. I have more of that in September, from years of being programmed that the new year starts with the new school year. January 1st never feels new to me.
I am also still recovering from the hubbub of Christmas. I told my brother last year in the studio making a living making handmade items is hard. But let’s face it being an adult is hard.
I want to do something a little different and instead of doing a round up of images. I want to tell you three short stories that brought me joy in 2024. I mean the business is named Bella JOY Pottery, might as well tie that in there.

In March of 2024, I was the moderator for the panel Business Models: The Unconventional Paths at the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). You might say oh, that’s nice. That’s not the joyful memory. The joyful memory is when I was walking through the convention center and a woman stopped and introduced herself to me. Her name was Atsugi Kobasigawa and she gave me a a pair of socks with flowers on them. She proceeded to tell me how much she loves my 5 Things to be Happy About videos! It was so sweet and thoughtful and now when I am feeling kind of blah I wear those socks. They make me happy.
The other two joyful moments are from December 2024.
I got a new phone last month and couldn’t get the esim card to work. My old phone was so old. How old? So old it had a physical sim card. Nowadays they are electronic (I am assuming that's what "e" stands for). Anyway, I ended up calling customer service. They couldn’t figure it out either and I was on the phone for 40 minutes.
We were sitting there in silence, waiting for the phone to reboot, and I asked the customer service representative how her day was going. This seemed to kind of shock her and she said good. Then she asked me: do you have snow yet?
The customer service representative ask ME ABOUT SNOW!? (If you follow me on social media you might know I love snow and if you didn’t know, I LOVE snow.) I told her we had snow but it melted, but I was holding out hope for a white Christmas.
Then she say to me: “I have never seen snow.” I was flabbergasted and then she clarified she lived in a tropical country and I said ah yes, that makes sense then.
But then I go into pro-snow mode and tell her how magical snow is and how much I love it. Then I proceed to warn her about people who hate snow (you know who you are 😂) and I told her not to listen to them because snow is the best.
Then she says in an excited voice: “I hope I get to see snow someday!”
I replied in an equally excited voice: “I hope you do too!”
I know that from now until I die, on the first snow of the year, I am going to think about that customer service representative and if she ever got to see snow.

The third and final joy moment of 2024. Drumroll please.
I was over at my parents’ house a few days after Christmas and my dad said oh Heidi, I forgot to tell you Augie called me on Christmas Day!
Background story: In August of 2021 I dragged my dad back to his hometown of Springfield, IL. He didn’t really want to go. He used to say (he hasn’t since our trip) that Springfield was a good place to be from. Ouch.
The reason we were going to Springfield was because a branch of the Fahrenbacher Family was having a family reunion. I had never been to a family reunion and wanted to go.
While we were in Springfield we went to my dad’s childhood best friend’s house and his name is Augie. There is something else you need to know. I love old people. I know the elderly probably don’t want to hear me call them old, but they are the best. 80+ and man, oh man, I will sit and listen to you talk all day. I think this is because my grandparents died before I was born or shortly there after. It's a live history lesson and I love it.
Meeting Augie and his wife, Ann was so nice. Augie was the only person I have ever met that knew my dad as a child. My dad is an only child and didn’t keep in touch with his cousins, so for me this was like going back in time. It was really special and then Augie called my dad Fritzie and I almost died from happiness. My dad always told me his mom called him Fritzie, but I had never heard another human being call my dad that.

Fast forward to 2024 Christmas Day and Augie called Fritzie. My dad said Augie said Merry Christmas Fritz! We have been friends for 80 years. That just makes me cry, it’s so lovely. They meet when they were 6 and are still friends!
That's all for now. I hope you had some joyful moments of your own in 2024 and here's to more joyful moments to be made in 2025.
2 comments
Thanks, Heidi
Great stories.
Love
Dad
Heidi, I love the three joyful moments from 2024.
Love Beth