Every day I think about wishes and dreams. I have long wanted to run a bakery cafe. I have it all planned out. It's going to be completely different from the other cafes in Muskoka.We'll serve fair trade teas and coffees and offer afternoon tea featuring home-baked treats. The bakery will offer a selection of delectable gourmet treats made in small batches from recipes I've developed and collected over a lifetime. I've got the colours picked out and you already know my logo.
Everyone who tries my baking falls under it's spell. I hear all the time that Bracebridge needs a good bakery but, for now, it remains a dream.
Instead, I've been drawn back into the retail ratrace. I'm actually pretty good at starting up and building the business for new locations. I've had the pleasure of taking products I believe in to the public and create a welcoming atmosphere in which to shop. Over the years I have made friends of customers and they're who I miss most when it's been time to move on. I'm just tired of doing all of this to put money in someone else's pocket. But I drive for hours to keep hearth and home and tamp down my hopes of doing what I love instead of what I must.
The question is how do I make the dream come true? I read about female entrereneurs who started on a shoe string. I'm finding that I need to think bigger than that. Without a store front from which to sell my product I can't reach enough people to make a living. Within that storefront I'll need a commercial kitchen. Therein lies the biggest stumbling block. Setting up a professional kitchen costs tens of thousands of dollars.
 2012 sorta dulled my spirit.This is generally pretty difficult to do because I truly do believe in the positive outcomes of things and that there's something good in every experience. I'm still trying to find the silver lining in the past year. I was about to hang a sign in my entranceway saying " abandon all hope, ye who enter here". I can't let this dream go because without it I disappear. I become the same person I've always been doing things for everyone else and forgetting what I need.
So, while I get my house in order after this tumultuous past year, the bakery sits behind me percolating. I'm going to do what I need to for now and then pull the project out again, dust it off and bring back into the light. Maybe the next time the planets will align to bring all the necessary components  together. My customers are out there just waiting to come in sit down and enjoy some treats and good cheer!  Just, not yet.