People often imagine opening day as something grand.
A perfect day.
Everything ready.
Everything polished.
Everyone standing there feeling calm and proud.
I wish I could tell you that was how it felt.
The truth is, I remember feeling a mix of excitement, disbelief and pure nerves.
After years of dreaming, planning, building, planting, waiting, changing plans, questioning ourselves and wondering if this place that only existed in our minds would one day become real — suddenly there were people arriving.
Real people.
Walking through the doors.
Putting down their bags.
Sitting in spaces that had once only lived in our imagination.
I remember looking around and thinking:
"Wait… this is actually happening."
Because for so long : ,8 years to be exact - House of Mi-Rin felt like a project still in progress.
There was always another thing to do.
Another decision to make.
Another corner to finish.
Another thing to improve.
You spend years focusing on building something that you almost forget to stop and look at what has already been built.
Then suddenly guests arrived.
And something shifted.
Because House of Mi-Rin no longer belonged only to us.
The space started filling with conversations.
With laughter.
With footsteps.
With people sitting quietly looking out toward the hills.
People slowing down.
People noticing things.
I remember seeing someone pause in the garden longer than I expected.
Someone asking where the vegetables came from.
Someone sitting with tea and simply staring out at the landscape without saying anything.
Small moments.
But somehow those were the moments that stayed with me.
Not because I thought:
"We've done it."
But because I thought:
"They feel it too."
The feeling we had been chasing all those years.
The feeling we couldn't properly explain.
The feeling that started long before there was a building.
Warmth.
Stillness.
A place to breathe.
People sometimes ask what my favourite part of House of Mi-Rin is.
The gardens.
The animals.
The food.
The rooms.
Truthfully?
I think it's opening a door and watching somebody slowly settle into a different pace.
Because years ago, I was searching for that feeling too.
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