Gee Creek chapter 1

But what is it?!

Years ago, when Connect was a baby spa I started dreaming up what Connect could be next. Ya know, if and when I would outgrow my original location what would I want it to be. I said things like this

Wouldn’t it be cool if teenagers were taking a cooking class while their parents were in the spa? They could have a family date but not be together, then on the car ride home they could talk about their experiences?

Or wouldn’t it be cool if there was a spot for grandmas to hold their grandbabies while the parents got to spa?

What about a wood working shop? Or a creative art space, and a yoga room and places for massage therapists and estheticians and counselors! How cool would it be to have your counseling session and then instead of hopping into your car, straight back into life, you could do a spa session after and marinate on all the things you talked about and actually integrate the words into your soul. Or maybe you could journal.

I started dreaming up my dream community space. Like, if I could rewind 10 years and start this healing journey again, what kind of space would I have liked to go to? What would have helped me as a young mother, what does having new adult friendships feel like? How do new friendships form? YOU GUYS! If you only knew what my brain was like, constantly trying to decipher what people want and need to live a more fullfilled life.

They say our words are powerful, what you speak outloud will come to be so don’t even joke about xyz because you might be looking at your new life in 2 years.

That’s what we got here.

A new version of connect that is just amplified.

When I first saw the gee creek property I was taken by the view. A big view of tall grasses and far off trees. The location was good, right off the freeway. A few ‘not great’ things that I would have to work out but the price was right. The lease was going to be for 2, very dilapidated metal barns. There was a house on the hill with renters close to the barns but there was a fence and good separation. The owner said ‘if the renters ever move out I’ll give you first dibs’

3 weeks later he texts that the renters had put an offer on a new house and were moving in February. Do I want to look at the house on the hill?

The house is massive. 2 story, 4000 square feet, daylight basement and just kind of a maze of rooms and garage spaces and just… big. I spent the next week deep in prayer and far from anyone else as I wrestled with what a yes would mean for me. It would mean the project was 3 times as big. It would mean I’d for sure run out of money, it would mean MANY things that I would have to figure out.

I said yes,

How could I say no?

Adding the house to the plan completely changed the trajectory of this project.

I remember saying to my best friend ‘I don’t know how I’ll have the money to do the whole thing but that’s God’s problem, not mine’

As time went on, I started to get intrigued by new business models popping up on my instagram feed from all over the world.

People meeting in pubs to talk about science

People watching a movie not in a theater but somewhere else with little lights so they could do their lap crafts. knitting or embroidery or watercolor.

People hanging out listening to music and off their phones

Late night tea houses

Record listening parties

Co-working spaces

Community Gardens

There seems to be a shift for us all to rewind the effects of technology on how we live every day. I am here for it. I am really proud of this dream of mine slowly making it's way into the world.

xoxo Michelle

10/8/26