2:14am

…early to bed, early to rise

(The squirrel art on my fridge (drawn by a 8 year old) that I glanced at before going outside to find an actual squirrel yesterday night!)

I was so tired at the end of my Monday, that I went to sleep before the clock struck 10pm.

I was in bed at 8:45pm. Which is UNHEARD OF.

…but goodness it’s been a week.

Last Tuesday I was looking forward to a life on inkeepery.

(I should have known when I found out that the inn only had 41 rooms and not 42 that it wasn’t meant to be (that’s just a nod to my gentle obsession with the number 42, and its calming effect /affect on my whole being) )

I actually had thought, naively, that it was a small inn, without only five or six rooms…which would have been manageable for me. But 41 rooms? That’s a hotel, no?

What makes an inn and Inn, I wonder.

Right now I’m struggling with the fact I’m feeling extremely joyful that I’ve been asked to work the remaining Saturdays in August. At the bookshop I love.

Normally Saturdays are sacred. They are the one full day I’m able to spend with my children and my partner.

So I’m torn. But in August…I have my children more often.

Bit in September…if I’m asked to stay on for only Saturdays…I may have to choose between parenting and working in a bookstore.

It’s odd. Because I genuinely have so many other days to work. In September I’m free Wed-Friday.

…but it may just be Saturdays they need.

…and working at a bookstore makes me feel…brilliant. I’ve been working in books on and off for 31 years.

My first job was at a library, as a student page, when I was 15.

I was, hilariously, fired from that very coveted job for not wanting to call the patrons when their books were late. One of the librarians and I made an arrangement. She would call the patrons and I would shelve the books.

It worked out very well until the head librarian, one Bobbi Day, decided I was shirking my duties, and I was, as punishment, made to dust every single book in the library by myself that summer.

Hilariously, I loved that task, and ended up learning the intricacies of the Dewey Decimal system, and exactly where every book belonged.

I think my enjoyment of her punishment irked her even more, and I was swiftly (after I’d dusted every book) let go.

…and my leaving that job led to the job I would end up working for the entirety of my high school career. Customer service at a corner corner (literally a corner store, on an actual corner just down the street from my high school).

Which led to a very formative moment of my life. Which I told a story about at Wham! Bam! Thank You! Slam! amd only just now figured out how to download the file (new technologies can be overwhelming to me)

I’ve attached the video below.

(My name is spelled differently than above, but I know how easy it is to swap letters in my name, and I have nothing but so much love for the wondrous Nan Tepper anf didn’t want to post it because of the mistake in my name, not because of the mistake, but because I didn’t want to draw attention to the mistake…but the story, and that show were so AMAZING, and if you haven’t checked it out, I would encourage you to attend the upcoming show this Saturday. Find out more through Wham! Bam! Thank You! Slam! )

Anyhow. It’s strange how not staying with a job o thought I would love (like the library or the Inn) lead me to jobs or back to a job..,that I adore.

Yesterday I worked at The Rosefinch Post (otherwise knows as Rosefinch Mercantile in Port Medway)…and I am back there every Monday, and these days I get to work with one of the most wondrous humans. I pick them up on my way to work; and our drive DISAPPEARS into stories. My friend is such a god storyteller. I usually laugh, or am rapt, the entire way. Sometimes, like yesterday, I have to slow down while driving because I don’t want our drive to end.

But working with them is equally fun.

We are a pretty great team. They run the kitchen, and I run the front. And if I need help, they come out, and offer to make coffee or chat with the guests.

I have been working at this magical cafe, every Monday (except the 10 months I ran Curious & Kind in Lunenburg) since January 2024. And the amount of beautiful change that has happened in that time is stunning. The only thing that hasn’t changed is how my bosses treat me.

We are friends. And often that is a difficult thing to manage in a working relationship. Not this one. It is, instead, magical. I am fiercely protective of them, and actually started working there to give my boss a day off. So that he could nap, and know their shop/post office/cafe was cared for.

When I returned after my hiatus (they never took the key), and I asked if there was any new way I had to be…he just said “please just be you”.

🥹🥹🥹

I look so forward to the end of the day when my friends come down (if they have energy) to chat and catch up.

I drive nearly an hour there and an hour back because being at Rosefinch feels GOOD. And though I can only do it once a week (the drive and length of day ends up being too much if I’m there more than once a week…oh why isn’t teleportation a thing?!) it renews me each week.

The customers come in and are excited it’s Monday because they genuinely like me. I know their coffee orders by heart, and the people who’ve never been before, I try to make them feel right at home.

Yesterday, one of our summer regulars…who I have been serving since she was 3(?) returned from Germany. Her parents are darling. And this little girl loves my boss: and he makes her a special sandwich just for her. The consistency of me being there, of his caring and genuine thoughtfulness has made her long-holiday better…like a genuine home away from home.

Yesterday I welcomed her home by giving her a unicorn book…she is six now, and was shy to begin, but I have no doubt that she’ll return to her comfortable self in no time. Her dad was the one to try to teach me how to make a cappuccino (still not my forte) and her mom is such a kind hearted human. They all are. Seeing them again made me realize that I’ve been at Rosefinch for three summers. THREE.

It is also my home away from home.

It was the genuine thoughtfulness of Audra, reminding me that I am, in fact, a good employee, that gave me the courage to quit my job at the Inn.

Customer service is something that, since my days at the corner store, I have deeply loved.

Some day I might talk about all the jobs I’ve ever had (and there have been many)…but in the end, they have all come down to me wanting to do my absolute best.

Be it parenting, teaching, producing or serving. All I want to do is make people feel good, and like they are exactly where they are meant to be.

…and in writing this too.

I hope if you’ve found these words, you know I appreciate you.

It’s now 3:07am, and tomorrow I have to take my dog for her hair cut…and then train a new volunteer at the art gallery.

My life is back to mostly peaceful. Rosefinch on Mondays, the gallery on Tuesdays, Writers Group and Cribbage on Wednesdays, Art at the docks on Thursdays (with Beth, and Sheridan and the near 10 year old who ran our creative club at Curious & Kind), and Fridays are for chess. Then Saturdays this month I’ll be at the bookshop (and hopefully we’ll sort me working a day a week in the fall…cross your fingers for me?)…and perhaps I’ll help out at the library in Chester, and the game cafe in Mahone Bay…and finally publish my novelette, and my children’s book…and oh! Me and Beth are starting a little wondrous true personal storytelling show on the Third Thursday of the month in September! (So if you’re in or near Lunenburg, maybe you’ll want to come watch, or tell a story?)

Life is beautiful for the time being.

On Wednesday I get my windshield fixed, and pick up my kids.

…and next week? I get to go back to another of my hear homes. The one where my children were born. They just finished their international puppet festival, the first one without the wondrous founder, and I’m so looking forward to seeing my friends…and sitting next to the river, and watching my youngest reunite with his best friends from childhood.

August is a big beautiful month and my favourite of the year.

Heart,

Wake

(On my deck yesterday morning)

Also! Here’s some more of the little red sassy squirrel who arrived in my backyard yesterday. I hope he’s taken up residence here.

(Isn’t he the sassiest?)

(Oh and the tiny book prompt, should you want to write a tiny book today)

📚📚📚#232

Gemma Hippo Takes Up Comedy

(I love hippos!)