Tomorrow, I will find out if I won the Tom Holce award at the annual OEN entreprenurial celebration. I close my eyes and imagine walking up to receive my award. I have been working at savoring these moments in my mind and not being afraid to hope for the best. It is a different stance from the way I have trained myself to “not count my chickens before they hatch.”

The truth is that no matter what the outcome, there is a kind of internal winning that happens in my brain when I allow myself to imagine the future of my dreams. I get a visceral sense of what it feels like to succeed, and even if I lose, it still translates into goodness that I can store up inside.

Mostly all I really want to express is part of what this summer long experiment in gratitude has taught me so well.  Thank you is really the only prayer we need to practice. It holds everything else in its heart. So win or lose- here is an acceptance speech for the gift of making Good Clean Love real…

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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

First to my husband, Franc who has supported me in inventing myself as a love entrepreneur in every way that he could. Even and especially when I didn’t believe in myself, he trusted me. Marrying him close to thirty years ago is at the heart of why my life is a blessing and why Good Clean Love exists.

There are two essential skills that any successful entrepreneur must have- the first is recognizing what they don’t know- and the second, even more crucial, is surrounding themselves with people who know. This is a thank you to the many hands and brilliant minds that have made Good Clean Love what it is today. Each of us can do so little on our own. It is only in our ability and willingness to create community, which at its best is what high functioning working environments offer-  is how  we accomplish miracles and re-invent the world. How lucky am I to get to work at love everyday- with people who inspire me and teach me. Thanks to all of you.

For many early years making love products in my kitchen with no business plan, and I am talking serious cottage industry here, I would dream of getting the idea of sustainable love and healing our intimate lives into the world. Being recognized by business leaders in Oregon is a huge leap on the way to making that dream come true. Thank you for valuing this work of love in the world.

I believe that Tom Holce, who was married for 45 years to his first wife, kept a similar balance sheet to my own. For all that he gave of himself and contributed to the lives and dreams of so many, he was seriously invested in love- which in the final accounting is the only reference point we have. With our last breaths all we consider, the only worth we refer to is counted among those we love, and those who love us back. So Thank you to Tom for giving me and all of us the chance to follow in your footsteps.

This is a great honor and an unforgettable night. Thank you.