I'm held hostage by a mansion, but it has been the most freeing experience of my life and soon the coop will be flown.
My mom is always making me sit in every seating arrangement there is when we’re in a new place. “Look at the room from this angle,” she’ll say, “Try this couch.” She’s even had me adjust hotel furniture when it's slightly askew, and move flowers in a waiting room because “they weren’t in the right spot.” It makes her so happy, so I compensate for the weirdness by smiling at people and trying to appear extremely “normal” . . . which actually never looks normal.
For her, it's always been about space. Half her life, my mom has been re-imagining the space around her to draw out it’s very best. She loves to find the potential that exists in every single room, patio and field. She tells me that even before I was born, she judged every place and space for its potential as a reception location.
We’ve been to countless events at restaurants, hotels and venues where she’s had me count the number of tables, chairs, people--anything to understand how the space could best be used. One time she asked me to count every single tile across a massive terrace. But I’d learned by then. I walked to the end, took a few snapchats in classic millennial-style, and walked back. As I suspected, by the time I got back she’d already figured out the square footage of the space--never having moved--therefore not needing the tile count from me.
She was months into her search for property before she told me what we were looking for...a home that would double as a venue.
After decades of planning she started house-hunting when I was 17. She was months into her search for property before she told me what we were looking for...a home that would double as a venue. We saw a number of houses, but nothing seemed right. When we walked into the house that became our venue, it was stunning. It was all the sappy things I could say like “anyone’s dream home” and “I knew this was it.” But honestly, it just felt like “home.” I really didn't know what I was watching as she began to form the business, but looking back, I realize I was witnessing the birth of something out of the deepest part of someone.
Our dreams are always the most sacred place in us, are they not?
