I am ending our month of Loving It Up on OMHG with my very own swan dive-thank you Tracey Selingo for having a piece of my safety net incase I go down in a blazing hot mess. I’ve got your book printed out and will keep it close while I jump. Also thanks to Laura Simms, your Roadmap to Action helped me get clear on where I am driving to not just the road I am on.
Until moving to Halifax I always felt like I had a community where I was valued. We’ve been here four years in January and I still haven’t found that sense of place. I’ve met some lovely friends here like Chara and Andrea who keep me from hopping on a plane but I’ve been feeling a need to leave/leap. I just didn’t know where. One place had been calling to me since we moved here so I asked Chris to take me to Lunenburg as a birthday present. It sounded lovely and I knew there was a thriving artistic community, a nearby Waldorf school, and heritage carpentry to interest Chris. Homeschooling Ila since our public school issues also had me looking for a place she could shine and the company of other like minded parents.
My birthday was the most beautiful day and we stopped in The Lunenburg Makery to check out their space in person. We had a great visit and I left my name and contact info just incase. It felt so good to spend my birthday talking and engaging with creative people-doing what makes me so happy online in person again. I came home to percolate on the idea of moving and covet houses.
When I threw my mother a New Year’s birthday party I sent out over 50 invites to everyone I had met in Halifax as a last ditch attempt at connecting here. Sadly only two of our invited guests and Chris’s parents came. Midnight found my mother and I talking late into the night drinking champagne alone. I decided that night it was time to move somewhere again that when I throw a party the house is full of friends. Imagine how thrilled I was when after all our talk about moving I got an email from Leslie, owner of The Lunenburg Makery and Luvly in Lunenburg and partner at Novita Consulting, an amazing and inspiring woman! We had a lovely visit at my house and she arranged for the girls and I to visit Lunenburg last week and stay at the fabulous Lincoln apartment above Jenny Jib.
Leslie planned meetings, gatherings and get-togethers with so many incredible people during our visit. Poor Chris stayed home to start getting our house ready to put on the market. My week in Lunenburg would decide whether we leapt into a new town here or started looking at going back west. My mother came to Lunenburg with me to help out with the girls and share her mamasita intuition (I try not to leap without it!).
Going to Lunenburg felt like coming home. There were visits and dinners with lots of laughter, friends to hold little hands, long talks about life, the universe, and everything. By the end of the week I couldn’t walk down the main street without seeing people and stopping to chat. Wednesday I had a lovely lunch with Micheline of Betty & Bing, who made this beautiful pie with font-y goodness outside and blueberry-y goodness inside.
That night I met with the Castaways knitting group at The Makery (I even stayed out until after 11pm!) an eclectic group of fibre lovers organized by Micheline. Thursday we spent the morning at the local market, hosted our #omhg chat from The Makery and I was part of the launch of their Craft, Paper, Scissors event where I met a great bunch of creative and interesting women. I wanted to steal all of them for one-on-one visiting!
On Friday Leslie and her inspirational and wonderful partner Brian, arranged a Makers Meal potluck and packed the room full of intelligent and creative people. Saturday I had coffee with Elisabeth a homeschooling, minister turned published cookbook author who welcomed my crazed kiddos to her home and sent me home with a copy of her book (yum!). I met artists, writers, musicians, editors, website developers, creative biz owners and so many more interesting people with diverse ideas and talents. There were discussions about building sustainable creative communities, the power of creativity, and the warmest feeling of acceptance and welcome. I had a busier social life and more hugs in one week there then a whole year in Halifax!
Coming back to the city left all of us feeling homesick for a place we haven’t even lived counting the hours until we can find our way back.
The icing on the cake is that Lunenburg is the most beautiful town any creative soul could wish to be part of. There is a sense of history and respect for handmade heritage everywhere without ever feeling like an anachronism or a quaint cliche tourist town. It is a vibrant and alive community full of people committed to building a wonderful place to live and preserving the culture of their town. Like all communities it has its quirks and downsides, our online world does too (we’ll be leaping into that together for our Entrepreneur Ethics theme coming up tomorrow!) but it is a place I can see loving for years to come and one I hope will love us right back. Our house in Halifax is in mid-renovation and feels like we are tearing down our stuck feelings and making space for new beginnings. I’m leaping into love with Lunenburg with all of my heart-I’m going to work out the landing on the way, thankfully I have you along for the ride!
above: words of wisdom at Sweet Indulgence-failure always tastes better with cheesecake!
Have you ever taken a giant leap of faith on a community or a dream? What worked/didn’t work-would you do it again?
The biggest thanks of all time to Leslie & Brian for welcoming us to Lunenburg with open arms and gratitude to the wonderful new friends we made during our stay. Thank you bouquet of flowers made with beautiful papers from Carte Fini crepe paper!
