Dear Fellow SIBA Booksellers and Our Industry Supporters,

I want to extend my deepest thanks for the honor of serving as your president in this past year that has been so difficult for most everyone.  I don’t need to go into the nightmarish details of 2020 that continue to follow us into 2021 (as the events of yesterday and continued awful news of the last few weeks clearly show), but I would like to share a few reflections.

Despite the inability to gather together in person at the SIBA conference, at BookExpo, or any other meetings since all this stuff started, I feel much closer to many of you and to our industry colleagues and bunches of authors.  That is something I hope continues when things return to a less isolated future.  Let’s try to keep our hearts open and keep working on the hard lessons we’ve had to face about our country and ourselves going forward. 

I’ve had incredibly deep conversations with friends I’ve had for years, even decades, but never truly knew anything about their day-to-day lives.  I’m glad I know those things now. 

Most of us had to learn a lot of new technology this year.  I love that stuff!  Now I have to admit I often used it as an excuse to avoid painful emotional or financial decisions that needed to be made as, you know…I was “working”!  Many of you don’t love technology and had to learn it anyway. 

I still count the moment when I despaired of not having pictures of our fantastic online author events being solved with the discovery of this thing called the “screen shot” as a highlight of my year.

Then I realized all the events were recorded and I could just snap a frame out of the video and felt kind of stupid. 

This revelation came months later, of course.

I learned that there was no right way to do this thing. 

I made the choice to try to keep all my staff in their jobs with closed doors.  We are still not open for in-store shopping.  We just found different ways to do things.  Others of you made your own choices with little or no information or different information every day.  If your choices were different from mine, as long as you were doing everything you believed would keep everyone as safe as possible using science-based facts, I respect the integrity of those choices.   Please do a kindness to your fellow booksellers and respect their responsible decisions.  There was and is no “right way” to do this. 

I would like to thank my fellow board members Janet, Jamie, Deanna, John, (and Shane from earlier in the year) for their contributions and their friendship.  I would like to thank Linda-Marie and the SIBA staff for making the conference happen and for executing the board decisions and daily operations to turn SIBA into the organization members needed this year.  I am in awe of their work.  And I hope Wanda’s not reading this stuff anymore, but I thank her for building such a stable foundation for all of us. 

On a personal note:
As many of you know, despite taking every precaution possible and having no earthly idea where it came from, my partner David and I contracted COVID and fell sick the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  We had to shut the shop down while everyone got tested and were able to reopen after about 8 days.  Both David and I were very ill for weeks, but thankfully neither of us had to go to the hospital and are both recovering with some lingering side effects. 

I want to thank my staff for an exceptional job of running the shop and giving me time to heal.  I want to thank John Cavalier for stepping in as president early during my illness and while I continued to play catch up when I was getting better. 

Prior to that in September, October, and November I had a few truly terrifying health scares all three of which turned out fine.  No worries there now, but it was a horrible time. 

I bring this up, not for sympathy, but to acknowledge that many of you are dealing with just “Capital L Life” in addition to trying to run your businesses, take care of your loved ones, and deal with all the rest of everything that is going on.  It’s hard.  Don’t be afraid to ask for help. 

Besides the brain fog and loss of taste and smell (thankfully slowly returning), one of the post-COVID side-effects I am dealing with is the return of my severe depression. 

It’s a problem I’ve lived with my whole life and has been mostly under control for the last two decades or so.  Though I’m sure most of you would not consider me a “ray of sunshine”.  (You can laugh at that.  It’s ok.) 

It is now well documented that people who have a history of mental illness are prone to having relapses or increased symptoms post-COVID. 

And I’m not going to lie to you: it’s been pretty bad. 

I was able to get a great support system put together on the fly with some difficulty during the holiday season with the help of my doctor and other professionals as well as my partner, friends, and family.  But I still have a long way to go to get back to feeling better. 

This has been a difficult year for us all.  Please watch yourselves, your colleagues, and your loved ones for signs of illness and suffering of all kinds and get help. 

For mental health resources, the ABA and SIBA link to this page which has a lot of great information. Or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) to reach a 24-hour crisis center.

For financial assistance, please contact BINC.  They can help with medical bills, all kinds of things. https://www.bincfoundation.org 

For health-related concerns: please contact your doctor (don’t put it off) or if it’s really bad go to the emergency room or call 911. 

I’m still on the Board, so you’ll be seeing me around, of course.  As always, my “door” is open.  Just not 24 hours a day anymore.  I can be reached at kelly@fountainbookstore.com and we can set up a phone call or, Lord have mercy, a Zoom if absolutely necessary to talk. 

Sometimes I take a few days to respond, but know that I am here. 

May You Have a Safe, Bountiful, and Joyous New Year,
Kelly Justice
Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, Past-President