Lesli’s Story

How I realized everyone needs a few glass floats

“My life has taken some difficult and interesting turns. I married my childhood sweetheart and supported him through college and law school. I worked part-time as a model. We had two beautiful children and 20 years of marriage. Life was pretty painless and pretty wonderful, but that changed in an instant when my husband was diagnosed with Acute Mylogenous Leukemia. He succumbed to the disease by the end of a very hard, very precious year.

“I asked myself questions that plenty of grieving people ask: How do I move on? What should I do? How do I get past simply coping and move into something more meaningful? And is happiness still an option?

“We all need to be reminded that we’re stronger than we look. That we can start new. That we’re beautiful.” “I decided the only way to find out was to put some effort into it. So I went back to college, studied interior design and graduated with honors. I worked for a Fortune 500 company for three years and then opened my own design studio. I was lucky in love once again, and married the most amazing man, my husband Mike. Along the way, I’ve had the chance to do some great work on some great projects and meet some wonderful people.

One of the wonderful ones I met was a woman named Diane Hansen—a creative force who shared my love for traveling, art, good food and wine. One evening, Diane commented on how much she loved some old Japanese fishing floats I had on a table in my home. I loved that she loved them. Those floats always filled me with wonder. How could a fragile piece of glass travel thousands of miles? And how did something created for such a humble purpose end up becoming a beautiful, treasured piece of art? How did it not only survive, but become beautiful? I wanted to do the same thing.

Diane and I declared right then that everyone needs a glass float.

And it’s true. We all need to be reminded that we’re stronger than we look. That we can start new. That we’re beautiful.