THE G R O U N D S of Livev

Two and a half years ago, The Grounds was just a dream in my mind.

Here we are that July, photographing and filming for a website that didn’t yet exist. I had a clear vision. It had to look the way I imagined it and, more importantly, feel the way I felt it.

By then, Celeste had jumped on board for this journey with me.

It makes me smile thinking about everything we’ve navigated since. Going into business with one of your best friends is a little like a new marriage. You think you know someone so well, and suddenly you’re discovering an entirely different side of them.

There are miscommunications, assumptions, and moments when you wonder where the person you’ve always known went. But they haven’t gone anywhere. You’re just learning another part of them. And they’re learning another part of you.

We’ve done our fair share of figuring each other out. And I think we’ve finally arrived at a place of really knowing and trusting one another. Knowing when to push and when to back down. When something isn’t about you. When to call a spade a spade. And trusting that if something needs to be said, we’ll say it.

We’ve learned to read each other’s expressions, give each other room, and recognize we’re both doing our best. And when one of us isn’t, we can let that be what it is.

This second year had its challenges, but they weren’t us. They were the growing pains of a new business, navigating the county, its processes, and everything that comes with building something from the ground up.

Like when a county email comes through and Celeste knows I need two hours before she speaks to me about it.

Through it all, we’ve grown in ways neither of us expected.

Coming off our second Outsiders Only this weekend, I find myself especially grateful for Celeste.

I’m grateful for how different we are. For the laughter those differences bring, even when they drive us a little crazy. For the things she sees that I don’t, and the things I see that she doesn’t. For the ways we challenge each other and make The Grounds something neither of us could have created quite the same way alone.

We’ve learned we don’t have to be alike to be on the same page.

Celeste, thank you for all of it.