After devastating illness, Beyond is on its
way back!
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December 19, 2012 |
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brightly colored bench where people
could sit and visit on Main Street in
Bonners Ferry in front of Beyond. |
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Theresa and
Tom Stahl |
When Beyond closed its doors in the fall of
2011, many people in Boundary County were sad to
see it go, and none more so than owners Tom and
Theresa Stahl, who were forced to make the
agonizing decision for the sake of Theresa’s
health.
Now, more than a year later, Theresa’s
debilitating condition is slowly improving, and
Beyond is back, via the Internet. Online you can
find all the wonderfully eccentric and unique
items once on display in the store, and more.
There’s still time to have gifts delivered for
Christmas … and the shipping is free!
“We are hoping to someday open another store in
Bonners Ferry and live the adventure again,”
Theresa said. “We miss our friends on Main
Street.”
For Tom and Theresa, Beyond was a long-time
dream come true. The high school sweethearts,
both from central North Dakota, always talked of
being able to work together, and Tom, a concrete
finisher by trade, always talked of opening a
store someday. But earning a living for their
growing family took priority. In 1990, when
their son, Jonathan, was just one year old, they
left North Dakota for the construction boom in
Las Vegas, where they lived the big city life
for four years.
But not long after their daughter, Olivia, was
born in 1993, they came to realize they didn’t
want their children to grow up in the city. On a
three week trip to explore options, they
discovered North Idaho. Tom sent out resumes,
and in 1994 accepted a position with a company
in Sandpoint, and while looking for a new home
they found Bonners Ferry, and here was exactly
what they were looking for.
For 15 years, Tom made the commute to Sandpoint
while Theresa ran a computer business from their
home and home-schooled Jonathan and Olivia until
high school, both graduating from Bonners Ferry
High.
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One of
Theresa's paintings from her "Reverie"
series. |
Around 2006, Theresa joined the artists at the
Groove Studio, where her colorful fantasy art,
available online at
http://www.owlsflight.com,
seemed to go over well, and with the
encouragement of friends and fellow artists, she
opened an eBay “store” in 2007, she said, that
far exceeded her expectations.
“The feedback from customers made me realize I
had a unique taste in art,” she said. “I did
commissions, custom murals, signs, even
furniture. I love color, fairies, dragons,
mystical creatures and things that send your
imagination soaring. I discovered I wasn’t the
only one who felt this way!”
She and Tom began talking about the sort of
wares they could offer to compliment her art.
“Our entire family are avid rock hounds and
we’re intrigued by the metaphysical, spiritual
and odd wonders of the world,” she said. “We
love kites and games. Tom and I are unabashed
‘never grow up’ kind of people who think life is
too serious and much too busy.”
Tom, after years in construction, was ready to
give his back a rest; with Jonathan off to
college in Denver and Olivia starting high
school, Theresa had little reason to stay at
home. After all the talk, they decided it was
time to fulfill their dream.
They came up with a name for their store during
a chat with a friend, who asked, “What kind of
things do you want to sell?”
“Things beyond the ordinary,” they replied
almost in unison. “Things that make you stop and
say, ‘cool!’”
Theresa found their storefront near the north
end of Main Street while walking around downtown
Bonners Ferry, and when Tom got home that
evening, she told him they’d found their store.
He gave notice, and soon they were hard at work
transforming a dull space into a vibrant
showcase, painting the walls in crazy colors,
building floor-to-ceiling shelves and display
tables, installing the art gallery and wiring
the lights.
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Olivia Stahl
preparing for one of many of the events
at Beyond. |
“It was a labor of love, an amazing family
project,” Theresa said. “Jonny saw the store
space when he was home from college for
Christmas break, Olivia worked with us after
school and on weekends.”
On March 17, 2008, they opened Beyond, stuffed
to the ceiling with jewelry, kites, games,
puzzles, statues, local artisan crafts, art,
rocks, gemstones and more.
“If it was cool and intriguing, we had it,”
Theresa said.
It didn’t take long for customers to take notice
of the eclectic shop.
“We had people knocking at the door before we
even opened,” Theresa said. “We became a fun
place for kids, since our store was very hands
on and had all sorts of toys, puzzles and games
for ‘testing’ while Mom shopped. We did a
thriving special order business, and I took
great joy in playing detective and finding those
special items our customers couldn’t find
anywhere else. We had tourists from other states
and countries who came back to visit us every
year and would call before Christmas to order
things over the phone. We started doing local
events, book signings for local authors,
Christmas Eve parties for kids, live music
events by local musicians. Tom and I being able
to work together at last, the kids helping
weekends and holidays … it was the best job in
the world.”
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Jonathan
Stahl and Sampson enjoying a North Idaho
summer. |
Sadly, Theresa’s slow descent into ill health, a
“mystery” illness she began to notice in 2000,
reached a point where the good days began to be
outnumbered by the bad. While undergoing an
ever-increasing array of tests and treatments,
she was able to spend less and less time at the
store. With medical bills mounting, Tom had to
go back to working construction; Jonny moved
back to Bonners Ferry and took over managing the
store and he and Olivia ran the store themselves
the final summer it was open while Mom and Dad
spent time at the Environmental Health Clinic in
Dallas, trying to find relief for her worsening
condition, brought about by the very environment
she lived and worked in.
“The official diagnosis is a yard long and full
of words I can’t pronounce or spell,” she said.
“It’s easier just to say I have environmental
illness; multiple chemical sensitivities and
electrical hypersensitivity.”
The smell of perfumes and dryer sheets, or
exposure to certain chemicals common in everyday
life; car exhaust, wood and cigarette smoke, the
sprays and solutions most of us can’t imagine
living without, would leave her physically ill;
sitting at a computer, being around fluorescent
lights or a cell phone would bring on
palpitations and debilitating headaches. As her
immune system grew weaker, the symptoms grew
worse.
Doctors were unable to help; even the famed Mayo
Clinic could give no answers.
“This illness isn’t yet widely recognized in the
U.S., though it is becoming increasingly obvious
that our modern technology and way of life
doesn’t sit well with everyone,” she said.
“There is a term for people like me, ‘canaries,’
like the canaries sent into the mines to see if
the air was safe. We’re the first wave of people
getting sick from modern civilization. It may
take a generation before we all see what we’re
doing to ourselves and our planet … much like
cigarette smoking used to be considered cool and
the thing to do. Then people started dying from
lung cancer, and we learned.”
She was fortunate, she said, to find the
Environmental Health Clinic in Dallas while
searching for help on-line, founded by a doctor
who once suffered environmental illness (EI)
himself. She spent five weeks at the clinic,
lived in near isolation in a specially modified
unit, the power to the room she stayed in turned
off, high-tech air purifiers running non-stop.
She and Tom missed Olivia’s high school
graduation because she was too sick to return
home. They discovered that she was now
“sensitive” to nearly everything around her. The
family dogs, wi-fi, most of the food she
normally ate, common soaps and detergents, even
fabrics. Her body was in constant fight or
flight, trying to protect her from everything
her immune system now considered dangerous.
When she finally felt well enough to come home,
having lost more than 25 pounds, she and Tom had
to leave the home they’d lived in for 18 years
because they were unable to adapt the town
environment to suit her needs. They now share an
isolated cabin they’re renting from a dear
friend; no carpeting, no paint, no cell
reception, none of those things most of us take
for granted. Her diet is strictly controlled,
the water she drinks has to be filtered. She
continues to work with her physicians and
nutritionists in Dallas, her local doctor an
intermediary, keeping her antigen injection
therapy going and monitoring her progress.
She is improving; after a year and a half of
nearly total isolation, she was recently able to
pet her dogs again; late last month she was able
to go to the library for a few minutes to check
out her own movies. It was the first time she’d
been in public since her condition peaked.
While her major symptoms appeared late, her
doctors believe she may have been born with EI;
as a farm girl in North Dakota, both she and her
mother were exposed to agricultural pesticides
and herbicides.
“While in Dallas, I met doctors, firemen,
soldiers, airline attendants … people from all
over the world who had amazingly similar stories
and the same odd symptoms, most able to be
traced back to chemical exposure” she said. “As
sick as I was, I couldn’t help but still be
relieved to find out I was not the only one!
Emotionally, this illness has been both
devastating, as everything I thought I was;
business woman, artist, gardener, dog lover,
home owner, was stripped away, and enlightening
in a way I can’t even describe. It’s all about
love and family … my family has been through
hell with me.”
She still misses pizza, lasagna and other spicy
foods, and while she can now tolerate more
foods, she realizes that many of the things she
used to enjoy are gone forever. She still has
her art, though she can no longer use oils or
solvents.
She also retains her love for the customers …
the friends … she made during the time Beyond
was open, many of whom still stay in touch … and
who still say they wish they could find another
such store.
She and Tom were setting up a Beyond website
before the store closed, and when it did close,
they kept all of the inventory. Making it
available on-line, she said, was a natural
progression.
Friend and fellow artist Jeff Hughart built
their site,
http://www.beyondbonnersferry.com, teaching
them at each step. Jonny, now living in Bonners
Ferry, has taken over as computer guru. Tom
built himself a light box and taught himself
photography, Theresa writes the whimsical
descriptions while Olivia, her boyfriend Mark,
and Theresa’s Mom have all pitched in inputting
text. After more than a year of work, the site
went on-line last summer.
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A Fairy and
her Dragon, just one of a myriad of cool
and unique items you'll find on-line at
Beyond. |
Once again Beyond is a family’s labor of love, a
place where you’ll find intriguing objects
beyond the ordinary.
The fun, the funky, the beautiful and the
fantastic in an every-changing array will
restore the wonder and imagination of your inner
child, and delight your family and friends.
At the same time, you’ll be entertained; like
the store, everything on the website is imbued
with a magical and quirky humor, making the site
a fun place to visit and just browse.
Those who'd like to learn more about EI are
encouraged to read a feature published in the
New York Times Sunday Review September 17, 2011,
“Everything
Makes Them Sick.”
Planet Thrive is a website dedicated to surviving and
thriving with EI and a great place for
information on the latest research and treatment
options.
To learn more about the Environmental Health
Center – Dallas, visit
http://www.ehcd.com.
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