Right before Christmas, while I was out of town at my parent's house, I got a call from a local lady who had seen my work at the Wildfire Holiday Art Sale. She and her two lovely daughters (former students of mine) had expressed interest in a couple pieces but they didn't buy that day. They picked up a card from me and promised to contact me soon for a possible purchase. I thanked them and they left.

While I was out of town, I received a call from the mother (either on Christmas Eve or the day before), wanting to purchase a specific piece. I was out of town and had put my site on vacation mode. I didn't get her message until after I returned, when Christmas had already passed. I was very embarrassed and felt guilty. I meant to call her that day, or the next day (since I got in kind of late), but I felt odder and odder about it and figured it didn't matter anymore. I forgot about it, until today when I thought I should finally contact her and apologize for getting her message late.

I called her cell phone number which she'd left me. She sounded OK but there was definitely that hint of 'Oh, gee...thanks for calling me'. I apologized to her repeatedly and explained how embarrassed I felt about the whole thing. I also said that if the girls wanted any image made into a piece, I'd be happy to do it, and that I'd contact her immediately if she chose to do that. She got my information and said that could be a possibility, but she just didn't sound too convinced. It's really not like me to slack off on communication. If anything, I am overly communicative and can scare off certain people who aren't, or prefer to keep things very simple. Occasionally, however, I will let my guilt or fear get in the way and I will just shut down completely on something. It's usually something that can be resolved quickly (sometimes not--sometimes it's something bigger), but it's definitely something I am trying to avoid.

In any event, if she does contact me, obviously I will get back to her ASAP. I have to realize, I guess, that it wasn't my fault that I wasn't in town when she called, and I don't need to feel badly about that, and that in the future there's no shame in calling and saying 'I'm really sorry--I didn't know you were going to contact me, and I was out of town at my parent's for the holidays'. My husband insists that in calling me on Christmas Eve, she was really cutting things close, anyway. I agree, but I also think that it was my responsibility to contact her as soon as I could.

That is all...

Gracias,

Hannah