One of the hardest parts of building The Nest has been discovering that the people who help make it what it is, eventually have to leave the Nest.
And right now, we’re saying goodbye — at least for a while — to three pretty incredible people.
Mac has been one of the shining lights at The Nest. Strong, diligent and dependable, he is one of those people you can give a job to and know it will not only get done, but somehow come back better than you expected.
He also happens to have a perfect ice cream scoop and some seriously impressive latte art (although I’m still waiting for that Swan!!)
Now Mac is heading to New York for school, and more importantly, putting himself in front of U.S. baseball scouts to see just how far this game can take him.
We’re going to miss him dearly.
He’ll be back for a little while in December, and hopefully again next summer — unless, of course, some MLB organization has the good sense to scoop him up first.
And if they do, we’re absolutely taking credit for developing his scooping arm.
Then there’s Tavia.
She wasn’t quite OG Nest staff, but close enough that we’re claiming her anyway.
This little fireball has brought an enormous amount of joy and light into this place. Tavia exemplifies so much of what we hoped The Nest would be when we opened the doors.
She showed up cheerful. She paid attention. She cared. And almost every piece of direction she was ever given was met with the same enthusiastic response:
“Got it.”
And then she did.
Now she is also heading to school in the United States, this time with lacrosse scouts watching.
We sincerely hope this is just the beginning for her. Maybe one day the rest of us will be sitting here at The Nest watching her represent Canada at the Olympics and telling everyone who will listen, “Yep. She used to work here.”
Finally, Kayla isn’t going quite as far away, but nursing school means her days of filling in at The Nest are coming to an end.
And nursing school deserves everything she has to give it.
Kayla brought a certain level of class to The Nest. Always put together, always sporting perfect nails and always somehow managing to balance all of that with parking abilities that were… considerably less perfect.
The nails will be missed.
The parking? Perhaps less so.
But Kayla absolutely will be.
The Nest has never just been about coffee, ice cream or food. It has always been about people.
Customers, neighbours, families — and especially the people who have stood behind the counter and helped turn an idea into the place we have today.
Mac, Tavia and Kayla are each heading toward something bigger, and while selfishly we would love to keep them here forever, that was never supposed to be the point.
Young people are supposed to grow.
They’re supposed to chase ridiculous goals, take chances, move away, work harder than they thought they could and find out just how good they can become.
We just got lucky enough to have them in our Nest for part of the journey.
Go make us proud.
Although, truthfully, you already have.