Fifty Cups of Coffee #26: Andrea Matthews
Date: August 15, 2024
Location: Zoom
How we know each other
Andrea and I went to high school together in Gresham, Oregon. We had a lot of AP classes together, and if memory serves me correctly (it’s definitely failing me more since turning 50!), we were also on the newspaper staff together.
What Andrea is doing now
Andrea is a math and piano tutor, currently living in Lynden, Washington. She is a mom to three kids and relatively new empty nester, with her kids living in Tennessee, Colorado, and Texas.
This past year, Andrea officially launched her own dahlia business, @SpruceStreetFlowers.
Three questions
During these Fifty Cups of Coffee chats, I ask each person the same three questions. The reasoning behind each is as follows:
Question 1 – Social media makes it easy for other people to think that they know us, when truthfully, we all only see a small sliver of someone’s life and who they really are. This is the interviewee’s chance to share something that is important to them that, for whatever reason, other people may not know.
Question 2 – We all have fears, no matter who are are or where we are in life. This helps connect us and show we are all more alike than we are different.
Question 3 – I believe the answer to this question helps show each person’s true values, passions, and their why in life.
There are no right or wrong answers to any of these. I’m including each person’s answers in first person.
Their answers have been edited from my notes for length and clarity, but these are their words.
What is one thing you wish more people knew about you?
“One thing is I would love for everyone to know is what I stand for. My faith is very important to me. It shapes my actions and decisions. In our family, our faith is really an anchor and foundation, and it’s also a launching point for us. That’s the biggest thing I hope people know about me. My faith in the Lord and Christ is who I am and what I am about.”
“Another thing I’d like people to know, in a day-to-day sense, is that I have a pretty full life and schedule. And I wish people would know I am always open to listening and jump in when I can, even when I’m busy. Often saying “yes” to something means saying “no” to something else, and I am happy to make those choices when I need to. I think from the outside, people think they don’t or shouldn’t add things to my plate, and I would say no, DO add! I am able to jump in when I can. A busy and full life does not mean there isn’t room for more. “
What is your deepest fear?
“We all have fears, but I feel like the deepest feae my husband and I deal with is my son’s Type 1 Diabetes. He was diagnosed during Covid. It was a shock and rocked our world a bit. Now with him away in college, we walk through the fear ‘what if something happens and we can’t get there?’ If he has low blood sugar, he can die. Usually I am able to walk through my fears and wrestle with it with God. But my fear is something will happen to him that is out of my control – not God’s control, but my control. It was a super scary thing in our lives and shortly after that, our friend who has Type 1 Diabetes died from Covid, so that added to our fear. I can see it (his blood sugar levels” on my app, but when he’s away at college in Texas, and we’re here, how do we handle that? We have to take deep breaths. We trust the Lord and we know God will take care of him. “
If you had unlimited funds, what would you do with your life?
“I feel like my day to day stuff wouldn’t change too much. We’re really content where we are and the ministries and jobs we have are part of our hearts. I don’t know that that part would change.”
“But i do think it would enable us to do more, whether that means traveling more or supporting more people who are doing things that we love that we cant do now. Helping our kids more. Our kids all paid their own way through college. So I think my daily life – my job, my husband’s job, our home – would not change a whole lot. But it would be nice travel more to see people we care about or ministries we love to support. That’s where the unlimited funds would go in.”
Lessons Learned
I had such a great time reconnecting with Andrea! Here are the biggest takeaways from our chat:
- Lesson 1 – Religion can be a positive foundation in someone’s life. While I am not at all religious, it warms my heart to know people of faith like Andrea, whose beliefs are a strong, positive driving force in her life. And I love that if she had unlimited funds, one of the important things would be to use that money to continue to do more good.
- Lesson 2 – Transitioning from having kids at home to empty nesting is hard! I loved being able to chat about it with Andrea, as she has three kids who have flown and grown, and we’re preparing for our second to soon leave the nest. We chatted about how we wish more people talked about this stage of life, fully and openly.
- Lesson 3 – Remember that we all have our own invisible daily challenges. So many people I know have kids who have recently (within the past 5 years or so) been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, as her son was. I am so grateful to Andrea for sharing her son’s experience, as I know it helps others.
Thanks for taking the time to chat with me for the Fifty Cups of Coffee Project, Andrea!
Learn more about Andrea
You can visit Andrea’s business on Instagram: @SpruceStreetFlowers. Her garden is her happy place, and it shows: the flowers she grows are gorgeous!
Follow 50 Cups of Coffee
Follow 50 Cups of Coffee on Instagram.
Visit my main website: Urban Bliss Life.
Learn more about me at MarlynnSchotland.com.