A HOLIDOME HOLIDAY

A HOLIDOME HOLIDAY

Have you ever wondered whether the things that seem so challenging are worth it? When I was young, I lived in a Holiday Inn Holidome for 4 months. It smelled like a mixture of chlorine and smoke from the hotel bar, which was filled with interesting characters sitting on their leather barstools drinking late into the night. I remember the sounds of the shuffle board discs pinging against each other, along with the faint sizzle of water hitting the rocks in the sauna and sending up a plume of steam. Most of all, I remember the Pac Man machine outside the bar overlooking the fake plants of the domed city below us that included all of these sights and sounds. I played that Pac Man machine with my dad late into the night after he coached games – sometimes until 2:00 am. And to this day, I am pretty damn good. Looking back, most would consider this kind of childhood unusual…and a departure from the sought-after traditional American childhood with a house surrounded by a white picket fence. 

My mom worried about us living there, and she worried about the unusual hours I kept as a child, but it was our life…and we embraced it. Looking back, I have an understanding that my atypical childhood was the foundation for my belief in life and all its moving parts along with my belief in others’ ability to make their mark on the world despite their circumstances. It was all of the things collectively that made up the uniqueness that are my fondest memories and the catalyst for my faith. My mom recalls that she thought that the house always needed to be decorated perfectly in order to make us happy. And you know? That really didn’t turn out to matter at all. 

It’s the Holidome…and crazy characters like Boot “the human can opener” (who opened Pepsi cans with his mouth and released a parquet from his mouth on the gong show) that made my brother and I who we are today. It’s watching your father get fired and then announce he would come back stronger and better…it’s people like “Crazy George,” who made you spin basketballs at half time in your pigtails in stadiums across the country, that created all of the ingredients that made you who you are – and how you view the world.  

It’s Christmas and things are not how they normally are in 2020: there isn’t an order to anything, we can’t go home to California, Christmas festivities and parties are limited, there are no New Year’s celebrations, NO school dances — and what I yearn for most is to dance. I danced with my family growing up and with friends into last year. But maybe – just maybe – in five years, we will look back and say that some of these “once in a lifetime” moments that occurred to us actually defined us and made us who we are today. THEY Made us better. 

These peculiar events of my childhood gave me a voice…a different view and perspective…and a love of the little differences that are among us and define us as people. We have a reason for existence that is not determined by the material or power, these things are meaningless if you are unable to translate them into happiness. Maybe sometimes, we feel an inauthentic weight because we are living an existence that is dependent on a world view that we don’t even believe in. The world creates stories surrounding marriage, children, success and sometimes we become enslaved by them.  The question should always be, what is my story? From the outside, my life looked a bit peculiar. We moved a lot, my parents were divorced (or what people liked to call back then a broken home), my father had a world class temper that people talked about in the press as obsessive. Yet what I experienced was a house full of unbelievable love and people who were relentless in the pursuit of their dreams and who encouraged us everyday to create a life that was unique to the gifts God gave us.  As far as a broken home (what a ridiculous term), ours was anything but broken. To me, a home and a family is a place and people who believe in you, love you, laugh with you, fail with you, have high expectations of you and make you believe anything is possible.

To me, all of the challenges make life worth it. During the pandemic, there seems to be two different kind of people: people who believe you become better and stronger when you break or life breaks you, and people who let life write the story for them. The truth is that there will always be hard times. There were hard times before coronavirus, and there will be hard times ahead, from here until the end of time. So the question is…who are you and what story will you rewrite to change the world? I know it will be worth watching! 

Here are some things that are happening in the KOCH Holidome!  

We announced our Make your Mark Mural Competition this week!  Don’t forget to enter your drawing to win a shopping spree at the KOCH House and have your art painted on the KOCH House by a Muralist. SEND ENTRIES TO JOY@SHOPKOCH.COM

 We also gave out joy bags TO everyone who wrote a spontaneous letter of kindness to someone who inspired them!  

We released our KISS ME Socks, THE ERICA SKIRT IN FIRE, THE Cece TOP RAINBOW pictorial print and new Hunter Pants in our Resort Collection.  Plus lots of new tees, GOLD Tops and our KOCH Cozy sweatsuits. 

Stay tuned for our New Year’s eve Instagram Live Giveaway on Monday, December 28th at 5:00 PM CST and and our New Year’s EVE TIK Tok Giveaway at 8:00 PM CST. Think Erica’s!!!  Something fun to look forward to in January is our rerelease of our GOLD metallic Erica…..it’s back by popular demand! 

Also don’t forget to follow us on Tik Tok @shop_koch

Quote of the Week: "For in the end it is impossible to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life.  And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work." BILL COLLINS

PODCAST OF THE WEEK: DANIEL EK, CEO OF SPOTIFY - HABITS, SYSTEMS, AND MENTAL MODELS FOR TOP PERFORMANCE

50 comments

Maci

Your story is so inspiring!

christina

I loved this short glimpse of your childhood. I think it’s inspiring how you don’t fixate on the negatives and instead are thankful for what you’ve experienced as it has made you a stronger person. My family life isn’t the greatest and i think adopting your same mentality is useful. see you on the live soon!

Emma

I love that you share your story behind your work. I am so glad that you have chosen to use your God-given talent to inspire others and make a difference in the world.💕

Ava

Loved this article! Joining the live stream in approximately 10 minutes!!!

Tri

Hi Koch! I loved this so much, my childhood was kind of the same also, and now from a new perspective I learned that it was actually fun. And this was so beautiful, and so impacting it changed my way of thinking and I thank you for that. I loved your brand, it inspires people to become their best and I hope you see this, and see what a great impact you have done!

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