Taking a risk in the time of COVID-19

MOSES LAKE — Light in the darkness.

That’s how Jenna Hildebrand describes her little boutique, Love and Lumber, located deep inside the first floor of the Smith Martin Building on East Third Avenue in downtown Moses Lake.

“I wouldn’t have done this without COVID,” said Hildebrand as she sits in the midst of displays of jewelry and homemade racks of used and new clothes. “And I’m so happy because it’s helped me come out of my darkness, it’s been the light in my darkness.”

“And it’s been the best thing I could do,” she added.

Hildebrand opened Love and Lumber — the name comes from the wood she uses to make bracelets — during the summer, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, after she decided to abandon her pre-med studies at Central Washington University and stay home with her three kids — 10-year-old Harper, 8-year-old Ben, and 5-year-old Holland.

“I figured I would need to be home with them and helping them with their schooling,” she said. “My plans for schooling kind of got crushed, so that changed courses for me.”

Hildebrand said she’d taken up jewelry-making after the birth of her first child, Harper, as both an outlet for her creative energy as well as a way of coping with postpartum depression. Starting a business selling her jewelry, as well as “gently used” clothes, seemed like a good way to cope.

“When my plans for school got shut down, I really feel like I needed something to keep me going,” she added.

Hildebrand said she spent a lot of time studying at Mason’s Coffee, so customers and business owners there “became my community.” It just made sense to lease a space for her boutique there.

“I started in July, and I started with nothing, with literally nothing, it was just an idea,” she said. “I had my jewelry, and I had some creativity, but that’s really all I had to offer, and I didn’t know how I was going to do it.”

But in the midst of a pandemic that was prompting political leaders to order stores, restaurants, and entertainment venues closed, Hildebrand decided she needed to take the risk.

“I’ve definitely had people tell me I’m nuts and I’m crazy for doing this,” she laughed.

She wasn’t sure how the community would respond when she opened, but is grateful for the support she’s gotten that has allowed her to not only make a go of it, but prosper and grow in what is a difficult time.

“Moses Lake has really rallied around me enough to keep me going and help it grow, and I believe it’s going to keep growing into something more,” Hildebrand said.

In addition to the new and used clothes, and the jewelry, Hildebrand also sells works by local artists and even bracelets made by her daughter Harper in what she calls “Harper’s Corner.”

“She’s very artistic and creative, she’s a lot like myself,” Hildebrand said. “I’ve just been blown away by her ability to put colors together and patterns, she just has this gift and she loves it. It’s something we can do together.”

Hildebrand is quite clear, even with all the dislocations and disruptions caused by the pandemic, including ruining her schooling and career prospects, that divine power is at work.

“I think, and this is my own opinion, that God is going to use all of that for good,” she said.

And it’s something she sees herself doing for the foreseeable future.

“Honestly, I don’t want to go back to school,” Hildebrand said. “I think this is something that I want to do. This is my new life.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at [email protected].