Everyone knows change and relocation is hard, especially when your destination is somewhere you have no personal connections. When I moved to the Durham Region to live with my partner, I knew absolutely no one. I was leaving all of my friends and family behind as well as the job I had loved for 3 years to live somewhere two hours away. I felt isolated and alone. I didn't have a support network to turn to if I needed to talk about work stress and the relationship bumps in the road that eventually turned into impassable mountains.
Making friends in a new city is difficult also; I already am shy and have a hard time reaching out so this made it even more challenging. I struggled to feel at home, especially after work when I felt like I had no one to hang out with. Even though I am a very positive person and very go with the flow when it comes to life changes, the move was still hard. This put a lot of stress on my partner, as he was my only connection outside of work. I knew I needed to branch out if was going to truly give living in a new city a shot.
I visited breweries and went to the gym but I never really made any connections. About 3 months after settling into my new job and home, I still felt out of place in the community. This was when Jen (@craftbeerandkittens) and Shannon (@hops.and.hikes) took me under their wing and became my first friends. They were a godsend and I couldn't have asked for anything better. I still wanted more though, I wanted to be apart of the community not just the beer community and meet more people. So I decided what better way to meet people than to create an event made for socializing! I want to thank here also Leshanne (@leshannepretty), my Aussie buddy from my Whitby job, who pushed me to make the event happen (And also for helping me push through to find my own personal happiness; working through that together meant the world to me and look at us now, girl!).
Hops & Hounds came out of a selfish want, yes; I wanted to bring people together and I wanted to meet people I might not otherwise get to meet. But I also wanted to use this event to bring awareness to something I cared about.
The Ontario SPCA was my charity of choice, not only because one of my past family dogs came from them, but also because most of my friends and family have had positive experiences adopting from them. They help so many animals find forever homes, fresh beginnings, and love that they would never be able to experience otherwise. I wanted to help with that and I knew others would too.
When I solidified my idea and reached out into the Durham craft beer community I was blown away! Everyone I met with was completely on board without any need for convincing. Matt, the owner of Manantler in Bowmanville was the first to agree to attend and not only pour with us personally, but give me my first opportunity to do a collaboration brew.
This is about the time when my partner and I got rocky; things at home began to fall apart just as quickly as Hops & Hounds was coming together. Eventually we ended up splitting and it was tough and I felt as if I had nowhere to go. I had picked up my whole life and started a new job, in his home city, living in the apartment we had picked out together. I had none of my old friends or family who knew who I was before him around to strengthen me in my decision. Without Hops & Hounds, I would have had nothing positive to focus on. I worked hard, through my move back to Barrie, through the split, through a job change, through everything. The event was my focus and my positive energy. I would not have gotten through without it.
Needless to say, the event went smoothly. The transition to my new job at Flying Monkeys was a blessing, I feel like I am where I am meant to be. And even though I do not live in the Durham Region anymore, I feel like I could walk into any of those breweries I worked with for months and have some friends to say hi to and chat with.
Without the positive connections I made during that tough time while my personal life fell apart, I don't think I would have made it through my transition being back home and the break up. And that is how Hops & Hounds helped me through one of the hardest times in my life. Thank you to all who supported the event and reached out to me about it, you now have an idea of what that meant to me in more ways than one. I am forever grateful.