Dear Readers ,
I am sitting in my home office in Chicago , thinking about my time in Quincy . When I arrived , I was returning to the town of my alma mater . I was newly married with no children . My husband had taken a job at DOT Foods and I was going back to school at QU . I was a bit rattled at the thought of coming back to town and starting over . In Chicago we had friends , an apartment on the lake , good jobs and I was close to my family . But the job opportunity for my husband and prospect of finishing my degree meant we were back in Quincy , sleeping on a futon at a friend ’ s house and hoping for the best .
It ’ s been 15 years since that time , and so much has happened . I finished my degree . We had five children . My husband worked for a wonderful company and built a career he is proud of . I purchased a coffee shop and launched a floral design company and QAB Magazine . We made incredible friends . We purchased our first two homes . We created the QAB Wedding Expo and I met some of the most talented wedding professionals in the country . It was magical , wild , scary ( at times ) and so much fun . My business partner at the time , Abby - of Lavish , Quincy Tea Co , and Love Always , Abby ( yeah she ’ s a busy momma ) - and I expanded the show , won a business plan competition , brought on more vendors , wrote articles , interviewed local business owners and edited each issue , page by page .
Five years ago , my husband made the difficult decision to leave the town where we started our adult lives and return to Chicago . I was ready to be closer to my family and raise my children in the church of my childhood . Abby became the sole owner of Lavish and I kept QAB . Sara Reddick became a business partner in the magazine . We were expanding the expo to a two day show and had visions of building new opportunities for our vendors . I had dreams of returning each year to visit my friends , host the expo and continue to do the work I set out to do when I launched QAB in 2015 .
During the pandemic , we began working closely with Brandy Owens of Brandy Owens Photography . She shared that her talents extended beyond photography to graphic design and that she had always dreamed of working for a magazine . Sara was newly married and her business , Sara Reddick Events was booming . As I continued to talk to Brandy , we became friends , and I realized that QAB needed her . Someone who was local , a wedding
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A GOODBYE LETTER
From the former editor