Post-Birthday Musings: Lessons, Gratitude, and Growth.
March 27th, 2025 // By: Cabri Caldwell
I want to start off by first giving thanks for all the amazing people I have in my life! I was overwhelmed with love, support, and wishes and could not be more grateful to have such fabulous people in my life.
For me, birthdays bring a lot of self-reflection. Thinking about the things accomplished, the unexpected twists and turns, the things that failed or mistakes that were made, and a chance to decide on what I want the next 365 days to look and feel like..
The last 12 months have been so many things but the word that comes to mind is — straight friggin chaos. In so many ways. Both good and bad. But in the same time, its been amazing. Its been blessed. Its been redeemed. All these emotions have caused some nostalgia. So while I writing this and it will be available for everyone to read, this is for me too. A way to go back and reflect, remember, and maybe even document changes and growth over time. So, enjoy a tidbit into my personal online diary.😜
Reflection on Life, Love, and Family
If you would have asked me on my 30th birthday if I had ANYYYYY idea what the next 12 months - I dont think I could even have slightly fathomed. If you had tried to tell me what all to expect, I would have called you a bold faced liar. Now, if you are thinking, “Cabri! It could have possibly been that crazy.” Pause. Come with me down memory lane for just a sec..
March of 2024 was honestly fairly uneventful to my knowledge.. March can be the kickoff time for Minimize then Organize’s busy season so things were picking up around that time. We wrapped up the month with back to back trips to organize for a client at Lake Brownwood and then headed off to Oklahoma City for our annual girls trip. (Dont worry, ill spare you the dancing and singing on stage bit from the piano bar..) Part of our plans for the girls trip was “one last hoorah” before Mom’s hip replacement surgery. We knew she would be recovering and tackling physical therapy for a while so of course, we needed to go walk our asses off, spend way to much money, and have margaritas coming out of your nose from laughing too hard. For my husbands sake we will no longer discuss the money spent on that trip 😂😂. The weekend after the girls trip, we were happy and excited to have Jacob’s family come to Lubbock for the Lauren Daigle concert. We enjoyed food, stories, and all the baby sugars possible while they were here.
This is maybe the last memory I have before things changed and we found what I like to call - our new normal.
The week after the Lauren Daigle concert, Mom was scheduled for her hip surgery on Tuesday. As far as the surgery went, things were good. We got to see her in recovery, and to my knowledge - she was up walking about 6 hours after the surgery. (Like who does that!? Six hours!?!?). She got to come home to mine & Jacob’s house where we had a rigorous schedule of physical therapy. Literally those fools wanted to come do PT at friggin 6am lol
At some point I want to talk more about all the things with Mom’s hip surgery but its a story too big to tell here. There is still redemption happening and it doesn’t feel like its a story quite ready to tell yet.
What I will say is - things were rocking and rolling fine. Until they werent.
It was early May, recovery and physcial therapy had been going great, but that morning, Mom woke up feeling like crap. She swore she was running fewer, and kept complaining that she was going to throw up. Her incision site from the hip surgery was red, puffy, and feverish. We ended up getting her to go to the hospital and at the check-in counter, she collapsed from a cardiac event, ended up coding, and was taken back by a team that was giving her CPR. Ill tell more of this later but we ended up having 4 days of her being on a ventilator, 2 weeks in ICU, 10 days in a rehab hospital, and 5+ months of ongoing rehab.
Ill just say life hasnt quite been the same since, even though I do like this version better.
May through August of last year was a complete blur. Its probably the trauma of it all but people ask things I should know from that time, and my brain literally has a black hole where there are no memories. Just survival.
Those are the heavy things, but lets talk about the fun things for a minute..
I GOT ENGAGED!
Jacob had the ring back in December of 2023, but after all we had been through, and the realization that life is short and fleeting, we enjoyed a quick trip to Angel Fire where he proposed at the Hot Air Balloon Festival.
While some people enjoy the wedding planning process - I did not. Especially when you are trying to be a caregiver, and run businesses, and still drink water and eat enough protein..
It was in August that Jacob finally said - “Okay. Weve got to start planning. Lets flip a coin.” And that is how we proceeded to pick a date, the exact weekend, the location, basically all the “big” things for the wedding. After that it took me about 45 minutes on TheKnot.com website and we had locations, attire, details, registries, and all the other little things ready to go. RSVPs took a little longer but overall, I took a very laid back, hands off approach to wedding planning…
Ill share more about our wedding, but trying to plan and have a wedding in 60 days or less was a TASK. I am grateful I had supportive friends and family that stepped in to help when things got chaotic.
The other thing no one told me was that wedding hangovers are a thing. A very real thing. We got married the middle of October and the wedding hangover lasted for sure until the middle of November. By then we were in the midst of the holidays and the New Year.
Luckily January and February were busy, but not like life threatening or planning a wedding busy, ha!
Reflection on Business, Delegation, and Profitability
I cant reflect on the last year and miss that even with all the chaos and things happening, we bought THREE more businesses in the last year. Not only that, we made more revenue when I was sitting in ICU talking to doctors, going over medications, and scheduling physical therapy visits… Here’s all my thoughts about all the things…..
Lets start with Modern Yard Card Co. We were in Lake Brownwood when I saw a random social media post about the selling of the business and immediately thought it would be fun, After a couple weeks, it was a done deal! Myself, Lara, and Kelli took over Modern Yard Card Co in April of 2025. What we didn’t know at the time that Mom would have hip surgery 2 days later, and then collapse and be in the hospital for weeks after that.
All that to say, Modern Yard Card didnt really get the love and attention it needed until like January of this year. 😜
Fun: 5 stars
Revenue: 1 star (our bad lololol)
Potential for Growth: 10 freaking stars!
And then we will jump to Organizer Near Me. I was approached by another organizer (shoutout to Keli with Organized By Keli out of Denver, CO!). She was getting ready to off load the business of Organizer Near Me. It is an online directory for clients and organizers alike. I was honestly pretty dang excited about this. Mostly because it was a new challenge I was unfamiliar to, was a little outside of my comfort zone, and had lots of potential through my eyes.
I knew I couldnt do it alone, so I brought in Melissa Klug from Pro Organizer Studio. We have worked together in an online space, working with organizers for years, we get along, we call each other out when needed, and she was exactly what was needed for the relaunch of Organizer Near Me.
So far it has been one of my favorite projects to date. The future of online directories have so much potential. The future of ONM has no cap and Melissa and I are so excited for what comes next.
Fun: 10 stars!
Revenue: 5 stars!
Potential for Growth: 1000 stars!
And the newest business to get my hands into and on — ReMOVE LBK. ReMOVE is a reusable, moving box rental company. After a a coffee chat with Amy Hughes, she barely hinted that they might be ready to sell the business. I might have blacked out in that moment and said something along the lines of “IF YALL WANT TO SELL, I NEED YOU TO CALL ME FIRST.” It took a little bit of time, but in February - Amy & Joseph so graciously handed over the reins to ReMOVE. More challenges, more unknowns and learning curves, but a business we love and believe in. We have so many plans and dreams for this business, I guess you will have to come read next year’s recap to know how things are going! 😉
Fun: 10 stars!
Revenue: Too early to say just yet!
Potential for Growth: 10 million stars. So many plans, dreams, and ideas for ReMOVE!
And last but definitely not least.. Minimize then Organize. This business has always been my baby from day 1. Luckily I have people like Lara McNutt, who also treat it as if it were her business baby too. This is also where I spend the majority of my time as a business owner.
That very quickly changed when mom had her surgery and then later ended up at the hospital. I went from spending 40 hr weeks working on project plans, proposals, invoices, marketing, and admin, to basically disappearing off the face of the earth in business world for months..
You wanna know the crazy thing?
We made more money. We were more profitable. We had more leads. We actually handled more projects over the summer than we did the last 2 years before.
I am still trying to figure out exactly how it happened, or the cause of it. But basically I think God was telling me to get out of my own way and delegate more things to my trusted team members. Being a control freak, thats not always the easiest but having all these other life circumstances pushed on me, gave me the opportunity to delegate, while releasing control, and not feel guilty about it.
Fun: Always a million stars
Revenue: 100 stars!
Potential for growth: 100 stars!
What this year taught me.
There were several stand-out moments for me this year but the biggest and most in-my-face theme that keeps coming up is that I have some amazing people in my life. This past year was tough. Lots of tears. Lots of worry. Lots of anxiety. Lots of fear. But also a lot of support. A lot of encouragement. Amazing friends. Amazing family members. And absolutely amazing business partners who were there even when I couldn’t be.
I have an amazing husband. If you’ve ever met him, you probably know that. He is the absolute best. I dont know if I could have survived this last 12 months without his love and support through it all.
Money aint shit. Lol, I say that with my full chest. When you are sitting hospital bedside to someone you love, it doesnt matter if you have $5 to your name, or a million.. That money cant save them. Because health is priceless. Illness is priceless. Mortality is priceless. What happens when you are financially the richest person in the world and your money means nothing to the grim reaper knocking on the door?
On the topic of money.. As a business owner, I think about money alot. I worry about it. I dream about it. I plan on how to spend it. I manifest it. I pray over it. Money is a constant topic in my brain. Ill tell you what I didnt think about when mom was in the hospital… Money. Hell, I even missed 2 credit card payments because it literally wasn’t even a priority in my mind with everything else going on. It was a little touch and go for a couple weeks there - it was like hit the submit button on payroll and hope like hell everything clears at the bank. 🤷 God bless, HE provided. In ways I still dont fully comprehend. Its a reminder and testament that He is ever-present to our lives and interworkings within them.
Businesses are like plants (I think). They grow when they have the trust to do so. You don’t go to a plant, water it, and then sit there staring at it forcing it to grow. You just trust that it will. Business is kinda the same way. Our metrics and profit look better when I trust. My team operates better when I trust. Our clients trust us when we trust the process. I am still learning this but surrendering to trust in things is going to be a theme for me this next year.
What comes next?
So what does come next? Honestly, I dont have a freaking clue. I don’t think I could have predicted the last 12 months so I am not sure what the next 12 months will look like.. I do know that 1.) I have amazing people in my life. 2.) God is redeeming all of our stories, even the ones that still hurt, and 3.) possibilities and growth are uncapped as we move forward.
I do know, I will have more online diary entries coming soon. I realize there are so many words inside of me waiting to come out.
Cheers to 31 years! May it be the best one yet!