It’s always something I do around Thanksgiving time: think of the things I’m thankful for. And for me, it’s easy; I have great kids; one of them this week has been traveling through the Scottish countryside looking for Loch Ness monsters and hunting down Brave Heart references to the real William Wallice. The other launched a new line of coffee that is very unique and dynamic. I sometimes talk about my kids regarding homeschooling because both homeschool them. The public schools just aren’t good enough. Recently, I have made some references to some of the trips we have all taken together this year, especially to Disney World, which we consider part of the homeschooling experience for the little kids, who are learning how to navigate a big world and make it smaller with lots of vast knowledge. You never know what you are going to get when you are a parent raising children, and my style of parenting has always been hands-off on things that traditionally involved micromanaged parental roles, while I managed very aggressively the things most parents don’t, such as the development of intellect. And as I look at my kids these days, all grown up and in their thirties, I am very proud of them. And that is certainly the case with my youngest daughter, Holly Denham who has found that the best way to generate income as a very committed homeschool mom is through her hobby as an artist, which has grown significantly over the last several years. It has been impressive to watch and it certainly wasn’t a plan. When you want kids to grow up, it doesn’t fit nicely into the boxes that a guidance counselor at a public school tries to put everyone in. Yet what she has become is worth a Thanksgiving all its own.

Holly is fascinating; even when she was a little girl, she was interested in the paranormal. Instead of playing with Barbies, she was more interested in the Crypt Keeper from the Tales of the Crypt television series. As a family, we have been on several ghost hunts, and she continues to go to paranormal events whenever possible. We have experienced our own stories of ghostly encounters. One of which was at the Moonville Tunnel in eastern Ohio, one of the most haunted places on the earth. We went there for her sweet sixteen birthday party. Out of all the things she could have done in the world, she wanted to do that. Watching all this, I wondered where it would all go, and these days, she is a highly sought-after artist who attends trade shows many of the months of the year all over the country. She is an illustrator but I would put her art experience in the category of conversation starter, which is what many of her fans want out of their purchases. She has had some rock bands who are very well-known commission her for promotional material which I thought was very impressive when I learned about it. I am very proud of what Holly has done to fulfill her commitments as a full-time homeschool mom to her children’s education while maintaining personal authenticity. I enjoy watching her evolve and diversify in ways I would never have thought possible. Yet she is the proof of the benefits of market capitalism, that if talent and dedication are applied, a market will form to enjoy the fruits of that labor.

We have not been much of a coffee family; my wife drinks a lot of it, but I don’t. And it wasn’t until this past year that my two girls started drinking coffee as we traveled a lot as a family. In the case of Holly, she, like me, doesn’t sleep much. I have a strict Mello Yello diet, but my kids felt they needed to avoid sugary drinks, so they started drinking coffee. And as a natural evolution, Holly started getting involved in her brand of coffee. Coffee branding is kind of a new thing, where the coffee market and the branding have been decentralized, much like other industries have been, from music to movies and all other forms of entertainment, especially microbrewers for beer. It’s an astonishing change in the coffee marketplace, so I was a bit interested as she started sending me artwork for her various brands of coffee with her label, Death Bloom Coffee. As we were coming into the Holiday Season of Thanksgiving and, of course, Christmas, this was a clever way for her to keep the fun of Halloween fresh in the minds of people who weren’t ready for all that to end. Consistent with her other works of art, it was the ultimate conversation starter. If you are going to be drinking coffee, then why not do it with some thought-provoking message? So, within a short period, Holly has come up with this whole line of coffee products and supporting merchandise that many people enjoy. And it’s a story that I find very interesting. Not just because she’s my daughter but because it’s the work of capitalism in a larger view that shows how variability is the most viable expression for market saturation without the micromanagement of governments. To see my daughter fully utilizing all these creative tools is something I am personally very thankful for.

In the context of her art, both of my daughters have heard me talk for hours and hours about various mythologies worldwide and their applications through religions and politics. But you never know at that time how that will translate to an approach to living. One attribute that sets Holly’s art apart from the rest of the pack is her raw intelligence, which gets expressed in ways that can’t hide her natural curiosities. That is why at art conventions she always has a line at her booth because there is something unique about her that comes directly from her life experiences, which started with an interest in mythology and then migrated with a love for Halloween, which she should be happy to see occur every day of the year, year after year. When talking about the lost continent of Atlantis or the most recent discovery of ancient writing that is over 10,000 years old in the Amazon Valley, Holly is the first to point it out to me. And she sees UFOs all the time and sends me exciting videos. The recent one that appeared in Monroe, Ohio that was so obvious, almost as if it was showing off, appeared almost over her house. To say that her mind is tuned for these kinds of things is an understatement. And those interests have shown up in her art and coffee for casual people to enjoy in whatever form they feel comfortable with. But to watch her take her interest in this direction makes me very happy and thankful. Your kids can grow up and become many disappointing things. But my kids were undoubtedly worth all the extra work. I am grateful to see them grow up into such exciting characters and adventurers. But most of all, a mind that thinks about things and can put those thoughts into an art that others can enjoy, even at a distance, is very satisfying. And now, through their coffee experience.

Click here to visit Death Bloom Coffee!

Rich Hoffman