Charles Dickens nailed it in A Tale of Two Cities. A period of time can be simultaneously the best and worst you experience.

That’s been my July 2025.

BEST: I was privileged to spend a week exploring DC with three of my kids and my mom.

WORST: At the end of that week I said goodbye to my son as he headed back to China. The last time I did that the pandemic hit and the world shut down and we didn’t see him for four years.

BEST: I was able to attend the Florida Preservation on Main Street (POMS) conference, teach TWO classes there with super-talented colleagues, and learn and be inspired by a bunch of gifted, dedicated preservation and Main Street professionals.

WORST: I was very publicly threatened at POMS by someone who doesn’t understand the Main Street culture of mutual support and cast a pall for many attendees over what was otherwise a lovely night.

BEST: Later that night, when I asked hotel security to escort me to my car, they did so but said I didn’t need to worry because the threatening person had been arrested for erratic and belligerent behavior to others at the event. Colleagues who had seen what happened also walked me to my car because that’s the kind of culture Main Street has. I love it and want to be sure I model that kind of behavior too.

WORST: A few days later we found out a doppelgänger for the person who threatened me had been arrested instead. Even the police, when looking at pictures of my person and the one arrested, thought it was the same person. Turns out two people, both impaired and exhibiting the same arrestable behavior, were in the same place at the same time. Can’t make this stuff up.

BEST: With my travels I enjoyed a wide variety of food I don’t usually get to eat unless I try to make it.

WORST: I got food poisoning mid-week at POMS and spent a day vomiting and trying to sleep it off.

BEST: Three friends whose work I greatly admire received an award for a groundbreaking product that I believe will become the industry standard.

WORST: The award was publicly given to people who didn’t actually do the work and those who created the product were not mentioned at all. To pour salt in the wound, the Credit Pirates then contacted a plethora of elected officials, bragging about their award (allegedly to garner support). I felt responsible for the slight because I had encouraged them to work with this organization.

BEST: I wrote successful grant applications for two organizations totaling over $100,000.

WORST: Federal and State agencies issuing the grants lost funding and all our grants were cut.

BEST: A couple years ago I hired a top-notch professional in her field to complete a project I wanted done in a slightly nontraditional way. She did all I hoped for and more and was hired the next year by several communities to do similar work.

WORST: Last week we found out someone who didn’t do the work had put on their resume to a government agency that they had done the project. It was as valid as me putting the Mona Lisa on my resume. I know I didn’t paint it and everyone else knows I didn’t paint it. So who would I be trying to fool? The professional only found out because someone looking at the original document saw the project team and noticed it didn’t match the Credit Pirate’s claim. I again felt responsible because I had encouraged them to work with the organization at fault.

BEST: On Wednesday I was able to advise a small preservation organization on how to digitize their collection and make it available to the public.

WORST: Again the Credit Pirates! I discovered later that day someone was claiming credit for work a prior digitizing team. The Credit Pirates even removed a sponsor from the website who donated 84% of the total cost of the project and put their own name on the site instead. It’s just not honest or kind or right or justifiable in any way.

BEST: While in DC I obtained library cards for both the National Archives and the Library of Congress.

WORST: While I found other fun Chinsegut and Robins-related photos and letters, I didn’t find the CCC tents on the Chinsegut lawn photo I want or any audio recordings of Raymond.

ALSO WORST: I didn’t get to stay nearly long enough. I need a month. Or two. Remember that book about the children who secretly lived in a museum. That’s my dream for the National Archives. Or Library of Congress. I’m flexible.

(Ok, maybe this last one doesn’t belong in the list but I REALLY want to find that photo and audio).

So it’s been a stressful month. What does one do with that? Figure out the lessons to be learned…

1. I’d rather be too trusting than too jaded. So while I will try to be more cautious with who I surround myself with, I am going to stay focused on helping people and communities. I absolutely love to see work we’ve done replicated in other places or inspiring people to redevelop the project into something else. Most people in my world are like that and want to see everyone succeed. We’re people who clap loudly for each other. I want to protect that culture. We can’t allow a few people who don’t belong there to taint the healthy culture everyone has worked so hard to cultivate and maintain.
2. Some people don’t belong in your circle. While forgiveness is mandatory, it’s ok to protect yourself if someone’s behavior towards you isn’t safe. It’s more than ok, it’s necessary. Your body will often tell you if it doesn’t feel safe – mine did in stomachaches this month. I thought the symptom was a lingering result of the food poisoning, but realized that wasn’t the case when the stomachache went away in certain places and returned in others.
3. If you have the power, be sure you create a space where those working with/for you are protected. Because those I was working with trusted each other, we didn’t have a paper trail that would have prevented all this intellectual theft by the Credit Pirates. Having everything clear in writing doesn’t mean you don’t trust your colleagues, it’s actually a way to protect them.
4. Piggybacking on #2 & #3: Sometimes the healthiest approach is being silent when others take advantage of your circle. Sometimes the healthiest approach is holding people accountable. There’s no hard and fast rule. Use your discernment and be ready to forgive yourself if you make the wrong call. Regardless of how you choose to play it, keep your heart pure from bitterness. I prefer to pity my “enemies” than give them the power to make me bitter.
5. Don’t stop giving. My sadness about the Credit Pirates is not about them “stealing ideas.” If you call myself or any of the others who were plagiarized, we’d tell you whatever you wanted to know for no charge. My co-worker, Barry, and I did a session at POMS three years ago on how to incorporate QR codes into your programming and marketing. Our goal was for attendees to walk out knowing everything they needed to know to do what we did. Same for our two sessions this year. This is not about being territorial. This is about someone claiming to have done work another person did. That’s simply not ok by any moral code.
6. When you give the Worst some space, it’s rarely the Worst. For it to really be the Worst of times, we’d be dealing with something like 2015 when every single month included the death of a male family member or friend. July 2025 has been disappointing and stressful, but certainly not the Worst life can deal.

And more good news: not every good thing has a corresponding bad one. This morning I made a list of all the wonderful things that happened this week that are purely sources of joy:

• Jason and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary this week
• My Grandpap White turns 96 tomorrow and is still out and about running Johnstown.
• Two large community partners I’ve wanted to work with reached out this week and asked to partner with our team on our community programming. I’ve been trying to figure out how to do this for years and they both called (with me doing nothing) within 48 hours of each other.
• Juliet the Dog and Penny the Kitten are starting to play with each other as of today at 6am.
• I was able to identify Margaret Dreier Robins for the Library of Congress while I was there and her file is appropriately updated for as long as human history (or the Library) remains.
• Even without the grants, money for three projects is coming in as private donations so we’ll be able to move forward with them, even if the scale is reduced.
• Today Easy Street Bob introduced me to one of his customers. Bob was telling the guy about me and he replied, “Oh, you’re THE Natalie.” How does that not make your day?!? I’m considering inserting “THE” before every person’s name I talk to. After all – for better or worse – each of us is the only one doing exactly what we’re doing on the planet.
• Easy Street had exactly the glassware I needed for the District 8 GFWC Presidents’ meeting the Brooksville Woman’s Club is hosting. We have an art theme, a live artist painting a tribute to Florida First Lady May Mann Jennings, and Florida Cracker catering. It’s going to be epic.
• Thanks to Breeze Airlines, I was able to book a direct flight to Erie, PA so I don’t get trapped in Charlotte airport per usual.
• Though one is gone, I am privileged to still have three of our adult kids living within minutes of the house. I know what a rare gift that is and am treasuring it for however long it may last.
• Thursday, the Hernando Sun newspaper ran my piece on Raymond Robins relationship with Theodore Roosevelt. Go get a copy, or read it online and also check out my additional photos and documents on erdiary.com/resources
• My talented photographer friend, THE Sonny, (see what I did there?) mailed me photo I have named, “What is Past is Prologue.” I will hang it in our library to remind me of how useful every experience in our lives can be if we let it.

I have a pile of good books to read, can listen to Isaiah 35 on loop, a house and car with A/C (in Florida), a family that loves me and each other, and a course on THE Raymond Robins to finish writing so I can teach it at Chautauqua Institution next month. I have a rewarding career that lets me help individuals and communities. And I have family, friends, and coworkers who check on me and encourage me when they hear about the bad stuff and make me stay up and play putt-putt or watch movies.

Plus as far as the Credit Pirates go, imitation is still the sincerest form of flattery, even if it devolves into unethical behavior on those doing the imitating….Or something….I’m still chewing on that one….cause it’s not imitating, it’s plagiarizing….you’ll have to get back to me on that.

Wherever I land, Credit Pirates are outliers in my world. Most of my colleagues are generous, giving, selfless people.

July 2025 was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Or at least some form of it. I’m going to mitigate and navigate the Worst and spend the bulk of my energy on cultivating the Best. And the longer my Best list gets, the less important the Worst feels.