Why we made Brightwend

Every day should have something in it worth telling.

If you call an older parent, you know there are two kinds of calls. On quiet days, you hear “oh, nothing much.” On good days, their voice is different. They went out, met a new face, laughed at a small moment, and can’t wait to tell you.

My mother is 85, and I live for that second kind of call. Everyone on our team has a parent or grandparent like her. They raised us, and now their houses are quieter and the days look alike. Yet so many are still curious, still funny, still ready to go. Brightwend gives them a good reason to put on their shoes, and brings more of those good-day calls into every family.

The name

Wend (verb, Old English): to go on your way, unhurried. Wend your way to the rose garden. Brightwend is that, once a day: a reason to get up and head out. Bright is how we hope you come home.

And a happy coincidence: Eliza Brightwen was a Victorian naturalist who wrote about the everyday wonders she found close to home.

A reason to go

Most apps want to keep you on the screen. We wanted the opposite. Each morning, Brightwend offers one good thing to do near you, picked with care for what you enjoy and how you like to get around. Then it steps aside, because the best part of the day happens out there, in the sunshine and the conversation.

What the longest-lived places taught us

We kept thinking about a documentary on the places where people live the longest, fullest lives: Sardinia, Ikaria, Okinawa. Nobody there counts steps. They stroll to the market, tend their gardens and linger with neighbors and lifelong friends. Every town has its own version: the bench in a shady garden, the free lunchtime concert, the bakery that’s been there forever. Our team finds these little treasures for you.

Our hope

A good day grows when you tell it: a photo for a grandchild, a note to an old friend. Our hope is that our parents and grandparents, yours and ours, spend more days out than in, laugh with new friends and find new favorite places, and that the phone rings a little more often with a story to share.

Guess where I went today.

With love,
from Charlotte, NC
Brightwend

Who we are

Brightwend is made by a small team in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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