A New Year - Driving in a New Direction
I'm in the midst of moving into a new home. And the most notable thing about this particular move is that for the first time since I've lived in Minneapolis (1985), I'll be on the "east" side of Hiawatha Avenue. This re-orientation to the city is giving me a new perspective and indeed has me travelling in a new direction (west) much more than I've been used to.
Especially since the purchase of Butter Bakery Cafe in 2005, my orientation to the city has been south-central / south-west. I'd walk a few blocks north to the shop, then walk a few blocks south to home. And when the shop moved to Nicollet Avenue in 2012, my east-west variance became 1 block. Sure, there are plenty of destinations for shop supplies that take me around the city and (heaven forbid) even to St. Paul, but generally the "where I land" area of the city has been quite limited to a few blocks along the west side of I-35W these past dozen years.
As a hiker, I'm much more likely to aim for a loop trail than an out and back. I just get the sense that I see a wider range of terrain on a loop. However, the out and back trails I've taken have the unique benefit of seeing the same places along the trail from different perspectives. Knowing this gets me imagining returning to loop trails and walking them the opposite way to feel how different they might be. The anticipation of retracing my steps to a favorite place along the trail is built into that recognition of seeing it again as if for the first time.
If you've ever hiked an out-and-back trail that included lots of vertical change, those ups and downs are challenging to think of as the same trail when coming back. There is a different feel in the trail whether you're heading up a climb or down a climb. Coming back down a steep trail after climbing it, doesn't feel like the same set of steps at all. This perspective of being in two different places yet being in the same exact place requires a lot of re-orienting along the way.
As I've begun the treks to my new home (over by the river) in these first stages of moving in, I'm coming across places that had been part of visits over the years, but now have a new meaning attached to them as they're becoming part of my new neighborhood. Honestly, I've been such a southwest Minneapolis homebody, that there really weren't very many destinations "over there" that drew me. Mother Earth Gardens, however, was one and it is a true delight to now be in walking distance of this magical business. I also have been passing the Fireroast Cafe, which was the first coffee shop I seriously considered buying back in 2005 (except that it would have meant crossing Hiawatha Avenue daily) but I ruled that out as too much of a daily commute.
Because my route from home to the cafe will most likely be along 38th Street, I'll have the benefit of having daily interactions with the 38th Street Corridor. Having made a commitment to support business development along this newly identified city Cultural Corridor, I'll be constantly reminded of the progress - or lack of - and of my opportunities of making a stop to check in on a business owner. Although for the past three years I have paused at 38th and Nicollet each morning and looked east to the raised fist a mile away, now, I will twice daily cross the intersection where George Floyd's life and death became a change-point for our lives. The daily reminder to honor the ongoing efforts "to get to the other side of justice" will pull on me to do more than just pass-through.
While it won't be a particularly easy walk, the bike ride and the bus route along 38th will give me options to not rely on my car when I don't need it for shop errands. And in an interesting first time in a long-time occurrence, my back will be to the sun during my travels to and from home and the shop. The last time that happened was a four-year school teacher stint in Robinsdale that took me out along I-94 to 394 and highway 100, and then back into the city at the end of the day in the early 1990's. I still have a bit of ptsd from those days of highway 100 construction and freeway merge lanes.
The move out of the neighborhood is, yes, one small step in my beginning to let go and imagine something after my time owning Butter Bakery Cafe. While working out a sale is not yet a serious item on my task list (currently that list is focused on repairs to our dishwasher, toaster and convection oven, as well as what's the next quiche combination), my "looking ahead list" will probably start to take more shape as I sit at Hiawatha Avenue and 38th Street pondering the minutes that go by. Fortunately, the empty storefront that was the Riverview Cafe, was claimed and will be a fantastic eating destination, so I don't have to drive by that space imagining a "what if I..."
And, for now, I'm just excited to have drawn such a large and lively crowd to the New Year's Butter Ball drop of 2024, and there's just so much to be grateful for and look ahead to in the coming year! I'm also excited to share a taste of our 2023 Social Benefit Impact Report at this month's B-Corps conversation (each third Tuesday afternoon) to reflect on the amazing things that happened in 2023 to support small businesses like Butter into the future! I look forward to walking 2024 alongside you, on this green path, with the new perspective of a 90 degree change of direction.