Big Blue – We Only Get One Chance

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG BLUE

June 14, 2019 marks one year. Happy Birthday Big Blue!!!
The first look at the insides of this beautiful building, I had no real idea that it would come this far.
I saw the listing come up on www.Zillow.com and sent it on to my realtor to see if I could get a look at it. My Mom and I met the realtor here for the initial walk-through and truly we were “just going to look, we had always wanted to see the inside anyway.” We were pretty convinced that the place would smell strange and/or be unrecoverable and not even an option before going in.
Halfway through the initial visit, my mom and I looked at each other in almost the exact same moment and said “WOW!!! This place is amazing and the main floor is set up already for us. This just might work!”
Fast forward 4 months of day in and day out due diligence; all the things the bank wanted, the inspections, the tests, the surveys, the walk-throughs, the research, all the things and it was finally closing time.
I was nervous because of what was ahead of me but I was also pretty confident because there was so much working in my favor and so, so, so many things that easily fell into place along the way. It was just meant to be.
From June 14, we needed to wait about 30 days to get keys. This building was an assisted living location since the 1960s and they needed some time to relocate the residents. To be honest with you, I am pretty confident that any place they were relocated to would have been a better fit than this and along the past year, as I hear stories, I am confident they are all better off where they ended up.
As we progressed into the summertime last year we got keys in the middle of July and I actually moved myself in while I was waiting for my new home to be completed.
That was supposed to be until October.
9 months later I got certificate of occupancy at the new house and moved out of Big Blue.
But in all actuality it was a blessing for sure. A blessing that I had a super cool place to stay. A blessing that I got a chance to really get to know Big Blue and all of her quirks. A blessing as through the last winter, with those incredibly frigid temperatures, I was able to just walk downstairs to go to work rather than have to be outside and face the elements. I never dreamed I would get a chance to “work from home” but it was a treat.
Our master plan was to get some of the 17 bedrooms open by this spring and rented as office space.
We are past spring.
But inside of this past year you probably also know we planned an executed a wedding and I became bonus mom to triplet teenagers.
What you probably don’t know is that we also had to fire the builder back in October for unbelievable negligence and take over finishing the very complicated new house build ourselves.
To say it has been a year, is an absolute understatement. I am not even sure how we survived it. Some of my phone conversations to my Mom would have her stop me mid sentence and say “How are you even doing all of this?”
I don’t know Mom. I don’t know. I just get up everyday and, because I am excited and passionate about what I am doing and where I am heading, I just do what needs to be done and keep working on all the “to-do” list stuff I can and then rinse and repeat the next day. When we got to move the Cafe pf LIFE Chiropractic office over in September last year, my incredible office manager, Nikki and I would wander around the place on the very first day like it was our home forever. It feels like home here, it really does and has since day 1.

So today, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG BLUE!!!

GROUCHY

She is grouchy…or finicky. Yeah, finicky is probably a better way to describe her.

The old girl, Big Blue as we have so adoringly named her, has been good to us so far.

We are working on week number 3 here and we are enjoying our time and our transition. It is different than just closing one door and opening another one in a different office space and getting to business.

It is time well spent feeling her out and figuring out how to manage all of the intricacies and quirks that make her so dang lovable.

She is warmer than would be expected on cold days and colder than expected on warm days except some areas are colder than others and warmer than others. Ugh.

The original builder, AJ Phillips, put the walls together by stacking two by fours on top of one another and then plaster and lath over that, not normal stud distance, like literally one on top of another. It is pretty astounding actually. We have a couple HUGE pocket doors and if you look inside the pockets, you can see the construction pattern…and to think those were put in place, by hand, one by one, 130 years ago. WOW that is some serious labor!!!

AND!!!! Not to mention the woodwork that adorns the entire space on all three floors The first floor is our Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic Center and has so many special things about it…but the second and third floors are absolutely spectacular as well. We are so excited to be able to open that second story to all of you and be able to rent the third story, one bedroom and one bath apartment. All in due time.

We love how much you all have loved her so far and we invite those that haven’t had a chance to swing by and experience the space to swing in! We hold open adjusting hours one Saturday per month and although we will have patients here getting adjusted, if you happen to be out and about around town this coming Saturday, October 6th, stop by and swing in! We will be here 9a-11a.

My staff comes to me with things they have noticed or things they need in this new space. It seems as though my

lunchtimes have been converted to “repair time” and grabbing lunch while working on a project! But that is okay, as we know that she will always be a work in progress but we will become a little more familiar with her needs and quirks as the time goes by.

When life took a turn and I needed to move to a different spot to be able to get one of my rentals leased out, I decided I would stay here and get to know her. My conversation with my mom that evening went “I am just going to triple-dog-dare myself to stay for the night and just see what happens. If you don’t mind, just please do not lock your door in case I get spooked and end up having to come out there.” I did fine from the first night but definitely wasn’t such a huge fan of having to go into the basement after dark. Now my attitude is like “sure girl! Whatever you need right now is good with me. Oh you need me to tend to something in the basement at midnight? Absolutely!! I will be right there!”

It is the strangest thing that I feel like I should leave a babysitter for her when Mike and I head out of town! I have never had the feeling but Mike thinks it is ridiculous!!! I just laugh at myself that the thought even crosses my mind at all. The great thing is that she sits right in the middle of a town that is so connected and wonderful and I am certain that if there was something going on, 30-50 people would be on the phone texting and calling me right away and so I thank you!!!

Please watch out for her. Mike and I have most of it handled but we need eyes and ears around for this grouchy old gal!!! …I mean finicky.

She is a gem and I think it has taken a bit for her to get used to all of us!!! There is a lot of new and fun energy inside of this space during our days and we have already had a HUGE engagement celebration!! …in fact that party is what gives me so much certainty that 30-50 of you would call and text if something goes bad because of the amount of people that made remarks about that party a couple Friday’s ago, “my kids pointed to that place and said, ‘Hey Mom! Can we go there?’ since it looked like something fun was going on when we drove by” are the kind of messages we got that following week.

We love her. We are so excited to plan our wedding to be hosted within these beautiful walls in early March, just 5 months away.

A phrase we hear over and over again around here, from me, my team and all those that visit, “if only these walls could talk!”

We are continuing to create a story here at Big Blue, stories of healing and health and wellness and life and living and family and the amazing power of the chiropractic adjustment that would make the forefathers of this great profession proud. There are pictures in the infancy phases of chiropractic that were taken in places just like this. Big Blue was born in 1889-91 time frame (seems the history was maybe she took 2 solid years to build) and chiropractic was born in 1895. It feels so, so very right to be here doing what we are doing.

Although she is grouchy, or I mean finicky (just looked that word up in the dictionary: fussy about one’s needs and desires <—sounds about RIGHT!) I think we have an incredible thing started that these walls will want to tell stories about for years to come!!! Stop in and join us this Saturday 9-11am!!!

HOME

We are moving home!!!

I finished my final shift at Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic at 521 N Leroy this evening. I had 4 patients between 5:45 and 6pm and I could feel myself winding down the service in that space.

This is the fourth location for my practice, so although I am not a big fan of moving, I am familiar with the process. I bought the Leroy Street location in 2010 and the location prior to that was so super bittersweet leaving because it was a chiropractic office since the 60s. My heart ached to leave that location knowing I was moving my practice from the exact location my chiropractor worked in when I was getting adjusted as a kid. I settled myself knowing that my 521 location would be passed down to another generation of chiropractors at some point.

But it won’t be passed down and I am certain it will get rented to another amazing business other than a chiropractor. There won’t be little ones roaming the halls there waiting for their adjustments years from now and far beyond when I am retired like I always thought there would be.

But truly we are moving home. I cannot describe the feeling of our new building, affectionately known as “Big Blue”, except for it is home. I got a little choked up as I was counting down the final adjustments in the Leroy location but I could sit here now in full on tears to know that we are moving home.

This is home.

I have had a recurring dream over the past 20 years that has driven me to this exact location. Watch for a Facebook LIVE tomorrow, Friday September 14th, as I share that beautiful story.

How did I get here? How did this all happen? How on Earth am I moving my practice and my livelihood to my dream location, no literally the space inside of my dream? We have a lot of work ahead of us in the next 72 hours as we transition the office to be ready for the practice on Monday, but it is all worth it to move home.