A Little Story About Our Big Move
A slightly personal story by Diana Gray
An old picture of Downtown Mendo LEAP in all its glory.
I remember moving day in 2017, the year before my son was born. I was getting ready to leave my little apartment behind. My husband and I were off to a slightly less little apartment so we could start our family. We went from one bedroom to two and upgraded from a tiny living room to a slightly more spacious living room. It was–as far as I could tell–a totally good thing.
It was my mother who got sentimental.
“This little apartment was such a big part of your life,” she’d said wistfully, looking around at the cramped space, now even more cramped with moving boxes.
In moments of excitement, it can be hard to downshift your emotional gears and get on someone’s level. I was looking out at the horizon and dreaming of the future, and here was my mother looking backward, saying goodbye to the spot where we’d shared so many cups of tea.
It took me a minute, but I eventually understood where she was coming from.
My favorite spot in Downtown Mendo LEAP
Hi! I’m Diana Gray, Mendo LEAP’s new Director of Operations. You may have met me at the front desk of what I am very fondly referring to as “Old Mendo LEAP.” I’ve been working with Megan as a marketing and communications consultant over the past year. Recently, Megan asked me to join the team on a more permanent basis, I leapt at the opportunity. Pun absolutely intended.
So why am I telling you all a story about my mom getting emotional when I was moving apartments? Well, because Mendo LEAP is moving! And I think that while most of us are feeling excited, some of our little people might be feeling different. Change is hard for kids, even good change.
So what can you do if your kiddo is feeling a little blue or unsure? Focus on the positive. And there are a LOT of positives:
All of your kiddo’s favorite equipment is going to our Southside location! We’re closed this week in order to break down, move, and safety-test everything (Mr. Jonathan and the team have their work cut out for them!)
Our play area is 2.5 times bigger than it was downtown, which means way more room for everyone to play.
If you have older siblings in the family, soon they’re going to be able to get in on the fun in our teen play area (coming this summer!)
We now have a whole special room for birthday parties now!
And this is just the beginning. I want to sit here all day and type out all of the fun things the team is dreaming up, but you’ll just have to wait and see. But since I’ve got you here, I do have a favor to ask.
We’re conducting a customer survey and we REALLY want to know what you think. We can’t grow and improve if we don’t know what we’re doing right, what we can do better, and what MORE we can do at Mendo LEAP. Our expanded space is such a cool opportunity to create something truly special for Ukiah and Mendocino County as a whole, and the sky’s the limit as far as what we can do. We’re talking cooking classes, parent/caregiver support, movement classes for folks of all ages, etc. We are also accepting help and in-kind donations for our expansion project, so let us know if that’s something that interests you!
Lastly, if you would like to directly support our expansion product, our GoFundMe is still active.
As always, thank you for reading. We’ll see you on the Southside on Monday, May 5th.
