“Just A Dream”

by Kim Froman

All my life and during the time that Davey and I dated, we thought the city life was for us. We loved the culture, activities, excitement and opportunity for dreams to come true. Our love for live music, good food and time with friends made Kansas City the perfect spot to start our lives. Davey and I had always imagined how cool it would be to start a business in a small vintage shop downtown. We imagined what we would call it and what we would sell. We fell more and more in love with this idea due to our history of retail and buying, however, the cost to start a business in downtown KC was outrageous.

Soon life shifted once we got married and were blessed with our son, Tripp. Our vision of “City Life” became a little shadowed as we found ourselves living in suburbia and focused on raising our son. We still thought of the shop and talked of it over late night drinks on the back deck…. but it was just a dream. Our day-to-day turned into long commutes to daycare and work, then fighting traffic to get home to make dinner before 7:00pm. We found ourselves not making it downtown much and date nights were nonexistent. We spent most our time at home with our little man enjoying as much free time as we could get. Toys, bubble baths, neighborhood friends and MANY trips back home to Pittsburg to see family. The “City Life” wasn’t such a focus anymore.

After nearly 3 years of battling the traffic, lack of time together and hectic schedules, we found our hearts pulling closer to home. We started touring Pittsburg on our way in and out of town. We would drive around and stalk homes and business locations to see if we could find just the perfect combo. We were amazed at the affordability compared to Kansas City. We even stumbled upon this great little brick shop for rent…was it really just a dream?

One afternoon we picked up my nephews and took them to eat with us before we left to head back to KC. While we were driving down Broadway, we heard something that changed our lives instantly. Three little boys in the backseat giggling so hard they could barely breath. We looked back at our son and he was so incredibly happy to be in that moment with his cousins. It was like something hit both Davey and I at the same time. What are we doing in the city without family? What are we doing missing out on all the fun we could be having? What are we doing keeping those 3 little boys from growing up together? We decided to make the biggest and best decision of our lives and began planning our permanent move back home to Pittsburg, KS. We haven’t looked back since.

Pittsburg has proven to be everything we loved about the city while still being close to our families. Culture, community, friendships, networking and great food and music! We are so happy to not be tearing up the highway every weekend and finally be settled into our new home. We are so grateful to be given an opportunity to start our dream business, Miners and Monroe, and have the incredible support of this community. Most of all, we are blessed to be able to provide a better life for our son and raise him in a small town, close to family, like what we experienced as kids.

            A simple reminder that sometimes it’s NOT just a dream.