It Must Be Love... You Moved To Cleveland!

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A lot of what I post about on Cleveland City Living has much to do with MY personal Cleveland experience and MY personal choices on what makes living in CLE great. However, Cleveland City Living is not MY personal blog! Which is why CCL has been featuring some guest posts as of late. Below we have a lovely guest post from Tammy Colson, who I happened to meet at the last OBA Blogger event. I have invited her to share her story on her road to Cleveland. Thanks Tammy!

As a recent transplant from the deepsouth, my Mama had one thing to say when I told her I was comingnorth, “Honey, it must be love... you moved to Cleveland!”

I first came here for a beautiful Mayweekend. We did the tourist thing – the Rock Hall, the beach... Ihad no idea Cleveland had beaches... There was great food from thetalented chefs and mom and pop restaurants throughout the city. Andthen there was a beautiful vista from the deck of a house in Tremont.In only a brief time, I fell in love with Tremont as much as I fellin love with the man who grew up in Lakewood and had returned to makeCleveland his home. When I moved to Cleveland lock, stockand barrel in the Fall of 2010 – there were Indians games, concertsat Blossom, and a very cool, eclectic neighborhood to walk in on coolevenings. And wow, the West Side Market. A foodie mecca. Not tomention so much pride and history, I couldn't believe I'd never beenhere before. Leaving the south, where I'd lived mostof my life, for what is really the largest city I've ever lived in,was a tough decision made easier by the fact that the people who makethe City of Cleveland home have so much passion and promise. I've metenthusiastic entrepreneurs, hopeful students, hard working bluecollar folks and starched business executives in my neighborhood, andeach of them sees what Tremont and downtown can be. They protect thatdream, and in so many ways they live it. Work in my field was scarce, so Idecided to take my small part time wine business and devote theeffort to growing a Cleveland based clientele for tastings, pairingevents and eventually, the first public Wine and Cupcakes event inOctober, 2011. The restaurants, wine bars and bakers and caterershere in the city have been mostly welcoming and helpful as businesshas grown to include private, corporate and monthly public tastings.When I rebranded the business in the summer of 2011, I chose a namethat reflected my adopted state of Ohio, rather than the southernroots that are so obvious in my speech. MissWineOH has been welcomedwith open arms. Folks back home ask me all the time whyI'd move to a city that tends to freeze over in the winter – a citywith political corruption, crime, and well, issues. I say they don'tknow Cleveland. Problems exist in every city – butnot every city is investing heart and soul, and dollars, into thefuture. Cleveland is revitalizing, and taking steps to do it well.Friends who visit here like it and want to return. Boomerangs arereturning in large numbers and companies are drawing new talent tothe area. Entrepreneurs across manyindustries are flourishing here. There are all sorts of businessowners just like me, making it happen with the help of an incrediblyvibrant, diverse and supportive population. There is room for more –and with hard work and the gritty determination Cleveland is knownfor – much like southern women – city living is everything itshould be. It is love. For a Cleveland man, and this city on thelake. There's no mistake here.

Tammy Colson is atransplant from south of the Mason-Dixon who loves Cleveland just asmuch as she loves her Kentucky Wildcats and North Carolina mountains.She can be found at @tlcolsonon twitter, or at MissWineOH– where unique wine events are her specialty.