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Gifted was established in 2006 as a labor of love and self preservation when life changed for me and my little girls on September 11, 2001. My husband Joe, a lieutenant in the Fire Department of New York City, was among those killed that day in the attacks at the World Trade Center, in New York City. Life changed again, about eight weeks later, when American Airlines flight #587 crashed in Rockaway, Queens, NY, Monday November 12, 2001, and my father was among the passengers. The plane crash occurred just two days after my husband's funeral service.

The work of establishing Gifted served to relieve the tangled fears and anxieties of suddenly becoming a widowed mother of two young children. Family, friends and firefighters pitched in to help create my vision of a neighborhood gift shop, and when it was complete, it was just as I envisioned it: charming and inviting. In the early years, my girls did their homework, and had after school snacks in the rear of the store which I outfitted with cozy bean bags, lap desks and a small television for post homework down time. There, we pieced together a new life, created memories of time spent together working, growing and healing side by side in our post 9/11 life. I worked long days to establish Gifted. The creative process of dressing the shop for different seasons and holidays served as a salve for the sadness that I felt. My little girls watched, lived and learned that though life does not always go as planned, there can be, and there should be, purpose and fulfillment in life when bad, inexplicable things happen.

Through a string of coincidences, or perhaps divine providence, in 2014, I was afforded the opportunity to move Gifted from its original location on Castleton Avenue, to the offices of the former Roy Cutter Insurance Agency, a small brick and stone cottage that my late husband Joe admired for years in his hometown of Staten Island. The slate roof, pitched ceiling, exposed beams, wood trim and pane windows of the 1927 structure were the embellishments of a quaint storybook cottage. Despite the loss, pain and darkness that the events of 9/11 and tragedy of AA Flight #587 thrust on me and my little girls in 2001, there I stood, years later, the sun's warm light on my face, inspired and blessed with the opportunity to forge new goals, hopes and dreams in the little cottage that Joe admired for years.

Lemons in hand whenever life serves them, I've learned to make the best of what is, and change what I can. The road to the fulfillment of our goals, hopes and dreams is often strewn with struggles, fear, loss and pain, and we succeed only when we persist. May sunlight grace your life with hope and courage to dream. Thank you for supporting this small business, the family behind it, and the spirit that guides it.

With appreciation,

Naoemi Gullickson

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