Said somebody wise.
Vacillate between needing to rant and wanting to tell stories.. it's just what is going round in my head.... so thank you for indulging me, regardless.
Back in 2008, I had a mid-life crisis... I was in my late thirties and had had enough of the corporate rat race... I mean, where were we all going? We’d just had our second child and with one toddler and a new baby.. my priorities shifted.
So I quit my big job in San Francisco and took the plunge and opened up a resource center for new parents: The Tulip Grove, here in Oakland… It was a huge leap of faith.
We hosted classes and support groups for new and expecting parents and it felt like a haven, especially for those brand new parents trying to juggle the first few days and weeks of parenting... Besides their pediatricians office, we were literally their first port of call from the hospital.
I was the buyer and we had the best of everything... I also became a lactation specialist and helped many new moms on the couch trying to figure it all out… I must have held over 1,000 new babies... it was lovely and moreover I loved helping and supporting people at a time they needed it most.
All those babies are now in middle school and a week doesn’t go by (or used to) without me seeing one of them and their parents at school, sports games, camps or local ice-cream shop in either Montclair or Rockridge.
But my memories of those days are bitter sweet… I had gone into business with a friend... and like many partnerships it didn’t work out.
It was very painful at the time and while I lost a lot of money, I learned a ton... I tell people now I got an MBA in real time...the biggest lesson I learned is to trust my gut and act on it sooner.
The site has been down for years, but I came across these photos the other day and they brought back the sweet memories: https://www.keycr8ive.com/tulip-grove. I still love the poem we had over the couch.
Yes, I know, tulips don’t grow in groves. Duh..