Listening to a Niggle

You know those things that niggle at the back of your brain that just won’t go away? That’s what the idea of running a Bed & Breakfast has been for me.

It all started when my best friend was living in England for Graduate School, and I went out to visit. We (okay, really she!) planned a wonderful, self-guided Jane Austen tour. She found us places to stay along the way, including several Bed & Breakfasts (to cut down on our food costs/ the need to carry food around) and I fell in love.

“Wouldn’t it be great to welcome people from all over the world into your home?” I asked on one of our walks through the countryside (the same exact fields that Jane Austen walked, I must add :) “Plus, it combines so many things I love – cooking, scheduling/organizing, putting a house in order, meeting people and learning their stories – and allows me to be a homebody, but not isolated!”

We made an agreement that if we were both 40 and not married, we’d open a B&B together, likely in New England.

Years passed, and from time-to-time that niggle would come back, “What if I really did open a B&B?” I'd think.

Every time I shared this dream of mine with friends, they would light up: “Oh, you’d be so good at that!” They almost universally exclaimed, “You should do it!”

Well, I’m not 40 yet, and my best friend got married.

I was, and still am, so happy for her! But my joy for her didn’t stop a niggle in the back of my mind that said, “Well, there goes your chance to run a B&B.”

But did it?

No. There was no reason that I couldn’t still pursue that dream!

And really, there was no reason I couldn’t do so sooner than later.