The Many Doors That

Hero's, or heroines, are born in youth, or so I believe.

The first morning I entered the famed RED DOOR on Fifth Avenue, I was a recent graduate of Katie Gibbs and had celebrated my 16th birthday.

Although I was a lowly new employee, I was soon introduced to the prestigious Salon’s equally famed owner, Elizabeth Nightingale Graham.

The astute business woman, also known as Elizabeth Arden, religiously made it a point to know all her staff.

However, that was ever so long ago,

During the decades the followed, I invariably sought out a Red Door Salon wherever I lived.

Although the legendary beauty queen departed this earth in 1966, her fame continued in absentia with multiple Red Doors that continually popped up all over the country.

The chain of easily identifiable salons continued to lure women of all ages instructing them how to apply makeup and coordinate new and popular colors of makeup.

The quest for beauty is seemingly eternal.

Six years ago after reluctantly saying adieu to the friendly staff at the Red Door in Woodbury, I relocated to a small town in Michigan.

To my despair I could not find a door painted Red in my new hometown.

However, I did soon discover two small salons continuing the unenviable job of keeping women of all ages happy.

They sat side by side in a small cul de sac and were independently owned and maintained.

One was proficient in keeping overgrown eye brows intact while the other preserved the pristine shape and color of both fingers and toes.

I was delighted with both proprietors and careful to maintain regular appointments in both their crowded schedules.

Often I reflected on how talented, capable and efficient both owners were even though their doors were not painted Red.

Then one bleak day without warning, Covid arrived and began to occupy most of our land.

When the dark clouds of the pandemic dissipated, and I looked, the two small doors were closed and the windows dark

I wondered how many other doors in our country were damaged beyond repair.

I wondered about two women in a small town who had established a remarkable reputation in the highly competitive world of beauty.

I only hoped they had survived,

Their establishments were never identified by a distinct Red Door, nor sustained by a financially established corporation, but each entrepreneur had become successful in a highly aggressive field.

The two independent business enterprises were destroyed by a common virus.

It was the same one that recently caused the lucrative Elizabeth Arden Red Door spas to shutter permanently,

Now as we slowly edge back to recovery, attempting to pick up the remnants of yesteryears, we mourn many losses.

When we begin the countdown, I hope that the countless small business owners who lost n0t only income, but also lifetime dreams, .are equally remembered.