Welcome, Readers, to our design issue. While the theme typically lends itself to home interiors and structural plans, the word design can also be used when it comes to creating a life for ourselves. The plans we make. The choices we embrace. The happenstance moments we accept. All of them can lead into drafting and executing a life we envision, with the understanding that life’s path can encounter a detour or two.
Typically, we rely on January for fresh starts and new ideas. I, too, look to the first of the year to enact change, but September can also serve as a starting line. Perhaps, it’s due to the academic year typically beginning. Regardless, opportunity arrives as summer ebbs and fall begins to flow.
“There is a time in late September when the leaves are still green, and the days are still warm, but, somehow, you know that it is all about to end, as if summer was holding its breath, and when it lets it out again, it would be autumn,” says writer Sharyn McCrumb.
How do you view this time of year with its seasonal and life transitions? I’m sure some parents are breathing a sigh of relief that school is back in session. Others might mourn the passage of extra time with their children. But this month affords all of us a chance to reset and renew. (Visit lakeminnetonkamag.com for my August Editor’s Note where I write about seeking new challenges.)
Speaking of new starts, I share on page 18 tips for new grandparents about how to make the most out of visiting their children and partners after the birth or adoption of a grandchild. Page 44 shares the details of a Lake Minnetonka home that is steeped in lakeside and familial history. The ways in which this home has been reimagined to suit family life is inspiring. Be sure to visit page 37 to read about digital editor Madeline Kopiecki and my visit to The Hotel Landing’s Belle & Grey, the hotel’s renewed dining spot.
What’s on your new to-do list this month?
Until next time,
Renée Stewart-Hester
