“In lock step, we the people march forward with each new day adjusting and improving our survival skills and watch with wry amusement as the promise of yes we can swings on the hinge of no we can’t fearing in our hearts, that when it comes to the kind of change we fantasize we never will.” ~Jack Costantino, Pres., TFU~
As we leave the grand pallet of fall, and approach the less chromatic but nonetheless spectacular splendor of snow capped hillsides and cityscapes, we can’t help but reflect on the year we’re leaving behind.
The passage of time is a complex recipe of ingredients infrequently resulting in a dish of our own expectation or choosing. The economy continues to vex most of us in one way or another. The still employed, wrapped in a blanket of tentative security, are assaulted daily by the next announcement of lay-offs and closings. In our neighborhood, several once vital and reliable shops, restaurants and other long term small businesses have closed. For years they represented the flowing blood of our local economy. We chose them purposely instead of malls and big box stores. It was an unspoken partnership between reliable merchant neighbors and the community they served. Now…their darkened windows stare vacantly at former loyal shoppers who wonder what and who will occupy this once familiar and welcoming space.
All things considered TFU enjoyed a good year. Our combined shop and office staff have been trimmed for maximum efficiency, and all have taken on more overlap in responsibility. A primary difference for us in this economy is that we are traveling farther and providing more untraditional services for our prospects and clients. We’re assisting in everything from land search, to working closely with their municipalities and banks to assemble the entire project from permits to paint, beyond the typical design, fabrication and raising of timbers and SIP’s.
In lock step, we the people march forward with each new day adjusting and improving our survival skills. We engage our unique realities as we are able while the loss of work, savings and homes tangles with the more important loss of loved ones and family illness.
And then…magically we’re treated to the restorative power of a new Granddaughter…already loved and debuting in March 2011.
In the meantime our worker-bee clocks tick down as our leadership romances other countries to ride to our economic rescue; and watch with wry amusement as the promise of yes we can swings on the hinge of no we can’t fearing in our hearts, that when it comes to the kind of change we fantasize we never will.
Jack Costantino, President
(908) 876.5262
jack@timberframesunlimited.com