Have you ever caught yourself having a Hallmark Movie moment?
You know the kind of feel-good story, where the main character struggles to find herself, and then standing in a coffee shop one day, realizes she has come full circle and is living the life she always imagined?
That kinda happened to me this week.
You see, it’s been 9 years since we moved up here to “the country”, and at first I was desperately missing the big city life. With no other mom friends (yet), I had put my creative career on hold to be home with baby #1, my husband was working 14 hour days, AND I was basically living in the woods.
I found motherhood to be all consuming—and sleep deprivation & loneliness had dried up the well of creativity.
In an effort to make contact with the outside world—I started going for daily walks with Norah in her stroller—and that is when I discovered a little coffee shop downtown called Bohemia. The artsy vibe was totally my scene and something about it made me feel at home.
Over time, Norah endeared herself to all the waitstaff and I came to think of those coffee breaks as my lifeline. Not just for the caffeine, but the act of leaving the house and seeing other humans! Eventually Norah got old enough to order her own “White Fluffy” and we would spend the rest of our mornings at the library up the street. I continued this tradition when Molly came along, and somehow Bohemia was “our place”.
Years later, when both kids had started school: it was time. Time for me to invest in myself again.
I picked up a book called “Designing Your Life”, a leather bound journal, and began to unearth that creative well. Bohemia remained the place where I would read & journal, and slowly visualize my next creative endeavour. It was there that I reimagined MANOR12 as a home styling service.
I hadn’t visited Bohemia much in the last year, but this week I went in for a long overdue latte. I had just come from a meeting with a new client to discuss their bathroom reno, when a text came through that another client was ready to sign on as well. And then it hit me.
I was doing it. I was working creatively again. So many versions of myself had stood in that exact spot at the counter: most of them restless & unsure of the future—but in this moment—I kinda felt like I had arrived.
If it had been a Hallmark movie, Phil Collins would have been singing over a slow motion montage of my moments in the coffee shop over the years.
But in all seriousness, it was a moment of clarity that doesn’t often surface in the day to day grind. Usually I feel like I am spinning my wheels: cleaning out lunch boxes and trying to contain uncontainable chaos. So I am grateful for the little voice inside that said “hey! look up—stuff is happening”.
And I am thankful for all of you that have been so enthusiastic about this passion of mine… And for artsy coffee shops run by lovely people.