Sometime you want to go where everybody knows your name…

**The following is a nomination I’m about to put in for The Gem of the Lakeshore.  I figured if I wrote it as a blog first, it would just be easier!!**

I live in Toronto.  The T-Dot.  Narrow it down, you can call it the West Beach or New Toronto or you can just call it what it is…Mimico.  Mimico used to have a negative connotation to it for me.  We used to play sports against teams from Mimico in high school and in the judgemental ways of that time, we thought the kids were all skids.  When my real estate agent suggested I buy in Mimico ten or so years ago, I snottily replied that there was no way in hell I was moving to Mimico.  She said trust me, it’s totally you.  And she couldn’t have been more right. I drive over the hump on Islington right before Birmingham and I see the lake and I know I’m home. 

Spending a year on maternity leave just let me get to know my neighbourhood and find more to love about it.  Sure there is the local hooker who hangs at the corner (she’s friendly when you smile and say hi!) and the dodgy dudes who spend all day smoking and drinking at a few of the choice local bars but aren’t they everywhere really?  What I love is that it’s a diverse community.  Yesterday Will and I stopped in the rain and watched and listened as a Sikh parade took over the street.  Does that happen in Rosedale?  I don’t think so.

At the centre of this community for Will and I is The Big Guy’s Little Coffee Shop.  When I was battling my postpartum, I couldn’t stay home.  Contrary to most women who hide inside, I was terrified at the prospect of being alone in my house for hours at a time and in my wanderings I found The Big Guy’s and in doing so, I expanded our family and survived my postpartum.

Just like Mimico as a whole, the Big Guy’s brings together a diverse group of people and gives them a common place to relax, discuss, debate and caffeinate.  From the time Will was three weeks old, we would go in daily – sometimes for ten minutes and I’m not embarrassed to say that one day, I was there the whole day.  The regulars are diverse – musicians, antique dealers, standup comedians, stay at home moms, students, teachers – but at the Big Guy’s everyone is just a name. 

On my worst days, I could sit and cry and no one cared.  Steve, the actual Big Guy, would swoop Will up, walk around with him and tell me what a great job I was doing.  Sarah, who works there, has become Will’s #1 babysitter and my friend and confidante.  One of the regulars once paid me a compliment and now when I have bags under my eyes, and haven’t showered in three days, I think of that one off compliment and raise my chin up a few notches.  I found my awesome mechanic through Mikk, another regular. Hell, I even dated someone I met there. 

For Will?  He is the self appointed King of the Shop!  He walks in, peels off his coat, heads to ‘his’ toybox and makes himself at home.  He’s greeted by a chorus of ‘Hi Will’ from everyone and he replies with hugs or high fives.  We were there yesterday and he was scoping out a woman sitting by herself sketching.  Ten minutes later, she’s letting him colour with his crayons in her sketch book.  THIS is The Big Guy’s Coffee Shop.

I’m not quite sure that Steve and the whole gang from The Big Guy’s understand the impact that they’ve had on our family but I’m hoping that this nomination is a start.  It may seem dramatic to say that they saved me, but when you’re feeling low and you’re alone and you know that there’s a place you can walk into and feel welcome – this becomes a beacon.  Oh and The Big Guy’s will figured prominently in Will’s baby book…because of course, he took his first steps there.  I think it’s fitting.