One day when I was researching on the web I came upon a site that was asking people
how successful they thought they were. To a person they rated their success (on a scale
of one to ten) to be about 3 or 4 or even a 1. When they asked the question to their sons/
daughters, sisters/brothers, and others close to them about THEM (not the relative)
they all answered 9 and 10!.

Most of the first group thought they were not successful because they don’t make a lot
of money or because they didn’t do what they thought were amazing things. But one
son thought his mom was a success because she always put him first and that’s why he
grew up to be such a happy person. And one young woman thought her dad was a success because he read to her every night and made up incredible stories so she could finally fall to sleep.

It made me realize that I was going through some of the same concerns. These last few years have been tough because I have not had as much work as I did when I first started my business.

But when I thought back over it I have done design work for a lot of big
(successful) companies. Yet now I feel somewhat irrelevant.

When I was working at my last “job”, not my freelance business, there came a time
when a man came to work part time at the ad agency. His name was Russ Cevoli. I
remembered him from when I worked at Gunn Associates, one of the top notch design
studios in Boston. His design and knowledge of the industry was renowned.
He was older then, maybe in his late sixties. I was in my mid thirties. But he, too,
remembered me from the design studio so he felt comfortable in confiding in me. I
remember a conversation where he was speaking to the fact that he was now
considered irrelevant and it was hard to find work. I can remember being shocked and
dismayed that this incredibly creative man was no longer thought of with the same
respect and vigor.

Sadly, that is still the way of things. It was that way in 1979 and remains in 2015.
And that is the main reason that Beth Sobiloff and Ginny Just are going to do the Two
Grannies on the Road trip. We want the world (or at least this country) to know that
Baby Boomers and those even older are still relevant and still able to contribute.
My thoughts are with you, Russ. You were the generation before me but you are still
regarded as a hero of the design world! God Rest.

GINNY . . .  The older, funner, more adventurous Granny