I donated most of the furniture from our house to a charity for transitional housing. I only kept my grandfather’s fir dining table, which he had built with his own hands decades ago.
Keystone Studio opened in April in a bright industrial space with tall windows. We focused on affordable housing where design quality actually mattered to the residents.
The story of the gala spread through the city, and the narrative around Simon’s “self-made” success quickly fell apart. His firm lost several major clients because people dislike discovering they were sold a lie.
I saw Simon once more at a coffee shop, and we exchanged a polite nod. He no longer had any power over me, and the room felt small and unimportant.
In June, we broke ground on our first housing project, and I watched my new partners speak to the future residents. I felt a sense of peace as I stood in the dirt with coffee in my hand.
My grandfather was right that building a life is just a series of choices about what to support and what to reinforce. I had stopped carrying Simon’s weight and finally redistributed it correctly.