Thank you.

As I sit here at my desk this morning, cup of coffee by my side, and contemplate the very long day ahead of me, I am filled with nothing but gratitude.

Today I will go to a place that I love to do a thing that I love with people that I love.

It’s not a bad way to spend our first birthday.

It’s hard to believe that Skylark opened its doors a year ago. The time has flown by absurdly quickly. The pleasure that I feel every time I walk into that space has not diminished one bit. The gorgeous building, those beautiful fixtures, all those damn books - it really does feel like home.

So I wanted to take a moment to say thank you.

Thank you to Carrie for being the best, smartest, hardest working business partner a person could ever wish for.

Thank you to Becky, Carol, Beth, Faramola, Erin and Chris for all the passion and smarts and good humor that you bring to the job every day.

Thanks to Theo, for being the perfect bookshop dog.

Thanks to the wonderful community of independent booksellers across the country who have cheered us on and offered advice as we have embarked on this journey.

Thank you to the wonderful writers and poets who have come to speak at the store. We wanted to make the shop a space for the community to gather and talk about books and you have made that happen.

Thank you to all the authors whose books we sell. Without you, we wouldn’t be here.

But most of all, I want to thank everyone who has come in to see us over the past year, and bought a book. Thank you for believing in us, and for supporting us, for helping us create an amazing community at Skylark around reading and books. It’s a privilege to put exactly the right book into your hands.

I’m looking forward to many more birthdays to come. Come help us celebrate today, if you can.