It's Nice to Meet You

A Strawberry Afternoon isn't something you plan. It's the $20 you forgot you tucked in your coat pocket. The thing you were already going to buy, on sale, in your size. The song that comes on shuffle at exactly the right moment. The universe throwing you something small and you being awake enough to catch it.

I'm Tori, and I've been collecting those moments my whole life.

I've also been writing letters my whole life. I was my great-great-aunt Annie's pen pal until she passed. I have cards from birthday parties I barely remember. I still send and receive mail with people I love — just because, for no occasion, because it felt like the right week to remind someone they existed to me. It has never once felt like an old-fashioned thing to do. It has always felt like the most direct route to another person.

A few years ago, my sister was accidentally tested for a genetic mutation and the result changed everything for our family. We carry BRCA2, passed down from my dad. I wasn't sick. I hadn't asked the question. But suddenly I had an answer that rearranged things.

I spent about two years after that moving through the world — different cities, different countries, carrying very little. I wasn't running away exactly. I was just making sure I was still paying attention. Still catching the small things the universe was throwing.

I came home and started making cards for cancer previvors, survivors, and thrivors — women sitting with genetic results, hard decisions, treatment, and the particular kind of grief that doesn't always have a name. Not motivational. Not kitschy. Just thoughtfully made, because they deserved something beautiful to hold. Sending those first envelopes showed me what I'd always known: a letter is proof. Proof that someone sat down, thought of you, and decided you were worth the stamp.

Strawberry Afternoon is where all of that landed. The letters. The saved birthday cards. The diagnosis I didn't see coming. The two years of paying attention. The belief that ordinary days are full of moments worth catching — if you're looking.

This is a soft place. For women navigating complicated seasons. For anyone who still thinks a handwritten address on an envelope is one of the better things in life.

We're glad you're here.