Episode 2 - Reinvention

This episode follows lifelong resident Danielle Hegge, a teacher and community member known for her bold personality and deep local ties. Through her story, Dawn explores what it means to grow up—and grow into yourself—in a town where people think they already know who you are. As Danielle steps into a new chapter of her life, the episode reveals how personal challenges, community support, and unexpected opportunities can reshape both identity and purpose.

Transcript

Danielle Hegge 0:01

My sister always encouraged me and she's like, "Do it, do it!" She always said that, but I just never thought I could do it.

Dawn Mikkelson 0:10

This is Becoming Lake City, and I'm Dawn Mikkelson. In 2022, I moved to my spouse's hometown of Lake City, Minnesota. Population 5,306. Jim's family has farmed outside of this town for over six generations. I, on the other hand, have spent most of my life in larger cities. Becoming Lake City was born of my desire to understand what it means to live in a small town through the stories of my neighbors.

Dawn Mikkelson 0:37

 It wasn't long after moving to Lake City, Jim and I were at the farmer's market, when an outgoing redhead bounded our way.

Danielle Hegge 0:49

Hi there!

Dawn Mikkelson 0:51

Danielle Hegge was a school classmate of Jim's.

Danielle Hegge 0:54

I was born here, beautiful, quiet, quaint, community-oriented. I mean, your neighbor would see you cutting a tree down and all of a sudden they're over there.

Dawn Mikkelson 1:07

From that point forward, Danielle remembered who I was and greeted me with equal enthusiasm to that first time.

Danielle Hegge 1:14

I'm a pretty outgoing person. When I meet someone, I'm always "Hi", or "What's your name?" Or "I'm Danielle." Did you walk down?

Dalia 1:22

Um my f riends are behind me and my grandma.

Danielle Hegge 1:26

And your grandma's here too? Oh, you got your grandma. Oh, good. Hi, Purnell.

Purnell 1:33

Hi there.

Danielle Hegge 1:34

Are you taking hugs? I'm glad. Oh, Dahlia can stay in the middle. I love it. I love it. If something went wrong, you always saw lots of people flocking with dishes of food or you know, something to help.

Dawn Mikkelson 1:49

When I asked the community to nominate their neighbors for this podcast, Danielle was described as a truth teller and a vibrant personality.

Danielle Hegge 1:58

Hi there!

Dawn Mikkelson 1:59

Hi.

Danielle Hegge 1:59

Do you want a water?

Dawn Mikkelson 2:01

Um, sure!

Danielle Hegge 2:01

I'm sorry I don't have any coffee unless my husband made coffee.

Dawn Mikkelson 2:05

So one late afternoon, Danielle and I got together in her kitchen to get to know each other a little better.

Danielle Hegge 2:10

I have taught fourth grade, sixth grade, first grade, and third grade. And I just finished my 25th year.

Dawn Mikkelson 2:17

It's interesting because I feel like a lot of people will move away from their hometowns and want to reinvent themselves. And you didn't have that kind of flexibility.

Danielle Hegge 2:26

No, I didn't. I just I honestly feel like I kind of reinvented myself here when you say that. I've never thought about that, but I am a totally different person.

Danielle Hegge 2:42

I was not the ideal high school student, so I wasn't sure if they would want me back here. You know, I'm a person that voices my opinion and not everybody loves that. My mom was a single mom for quite a while and worked hard raising two little redheads. Nobody tried to get to know me for who I was. There was just this prerequisite of who I was because of who my family was. Maybe my uncle did that, or my aunt did that, or my dad did that. They think I'm gonna be just like that. So you know what? I became who they thought I was. I'll never forget. I was a senior and I had started talking to this wrestler, and uh one of the teachers took me in the hall and told me he didn't want me to talk to him anymore. I felt very judged, and I just wanted someone to look at me and figure out why I was loud, why I was obnoxious, why I was always sticking up for other people. Why? Nobody ever tried to figure that out.

Danielle Hegge 3:55

I don't think I was seen as what people felt a teacher looked like.

Dawn Mikkelson 4:02

Danielle was able to reinvent herself the hard way through proving herself over and over again. Over the years, Danielle got married and settled down.

Danielle Hegge 4:14

We have three boys. So lots of sports.

Dawn Mikkelson 4:19

Danielle gets her energy from her social network, nurturing deep friendships, volunteering, and attending practically every community event I've ever been to. After over 25 years of teaching, Danielle got another opportunity to reinvent herself.

Danielle Hegge 4:35

Everything on the circular rack is 75% off, ladies. I just opened a store. I bought the consignment store downtown from Trudy. There's shoes right here by this store outside that are 75% off. I just was consigning this last spring with Deena, and Trudy asked me to buy it, and I'm like, "No, I can't buy it." She's like, "I think you would do great things with it, and you know people in the community and you're active", and I'm like, "There's no way I can afford it. No way."

Dawn Mikkelson 5:01

Danielle kept thinking about this store, how much she loved the idea.

Danielle Hegge 5:06

I then talked to my husband because I hadn't really even mentioned it to him. I told him, "What's the worst thing that happened? We end up in a little more debt than we already are, it's a one-year contract, or we have a little extra spending money and we pay some of our debt off. And I have fun." And he instantly said, "I mean, if you want to try it, try it."

Danielle Hegge 5:28

I got some really weird signs, really amazing signs from my sister who passed away a year and a half ago.

Dawn Mikkelson 5:35

Are you willing to talk at all about your sister and what . . .

Danielle Hegge 5:38

Yeah. She was 52. She has four children. She's so smart, she's so talented, she's such a good mom. Her kids were everything. Everything to her. I've never seen a mom mom so well from the day one.

Dawn Mikkelson 5:58

Danielle's sister, Michelle, was a small business owner in Lake City.

Danielle Hegge 6:02

You would hire them to come in and they would help you with the remodel, and she would pick out all the paint and style it for you. I mean, even draw up some of the plans.

Dawn Mikkelson 6:14

Not everything in Michelle's life was perfect. Michelle struggled with anxiety in the past, a struggle that became harder in 2020.

Danielle Hegge 6:23

COVID kind of changed her in the fact that she isolated even more. She became very depressed, and we did not understand at all how far her anxiety and depression had gone.

Dawn Mikkelson 6:39

In addition, Michelle also struggled with a chronic health condition that made daily life difficult. In 2023, Michelle checked herself into the hospital due to suicidal ideation.

Danielle Hegge 6:51

They let her out of the hospital after a week and said she could go home. And she came home on a Saturday. Her medical records were on the counter, and I said, "I really want to be honest, I read them. They were sitting there while you were napping, and I read them. And the amount of times that suicidal ideation or suicidal thoughts is listed in there alarms me." And she assured me she wasn't and wouldn't do that, and was feeling better and wasn't there anymore. And I was so proud of her for going in.

Danielle Hegge 7:34

Had so much fun, did so many little things, went for walks, got her into a store for the first time in a very long time. I put a Rudolph nose on and I was singing the song that was on the intercom there. And I brought her home. And then my dad, my stepdad picked her up that night and she went and watched the Vikings game, so we were just trying to not leave her alone. My mom and my stepdad took her home, and when my dad, my stepdad picked her up the next day for therapy, she had passed. So it was really hard. Every day I think what what I said that weekend, what I didn't say, what I should have said differently.

Dawn Mikkelson 8:24

Since that time, Danielle has committed herself to sharing her family's story, the story of Michelle and the story of those she left behind.

Danielle Hegge 8:34

In January, when they do it with the suicide coalition group. The last two years I've spoken at it. So . . .

Dawn Mikkelson 8:45

How do you do that? Like, that's a lot of people.

Danielle Hegge 8:48

It is hard, but like I said earlier, I'm one who shares because I always think what if you're helping one person? Michelle didn't need us to parent her or want us to parent her.

Danielle Hegge 9:03

Her children were everything, and I just that tells you how unwell she was because she still went there. She still took her life and I just I know how much she loved those kids. What if me sitting up there saying how much I miss her and I just want her to pick up my paint colors? Makes someone think, oh, "I need to be here tomorrow for my sister or my child or my parents", you know. Finding the right help is always a struggle, but worth it.

Dawn Mikkelson 9:54

In addition, she got a tattoo designed to symbolize Michelle's journey: a mountain at sunrise.

Danielle Hegge 10:00

This whole tattoo is about her, like she had a windy path reminding you that you have to climb mountains to get there. Purple was her favorite color.

Dawn Mikkelson 10:10

So when Danielle got the opportunity to reimagine the local consignment shop, she saw it as more than an opportunity to reinvent her career.

Danielle Hegge 10:20

My goal is to be open for the community, to provide a spot to thrift, to provide a spot to stop and feel like you're welcome.

Dawn Mikkelson 10:29

Still working full-time as a teacher with the help of an army of friends and family, Danielle opened her shop this fall.

Danielle Hegge 10:37

Hi there.

Customer 10:38

Hi.

Danielle Hegge 10:38

We have sales all over. They have little orange tags on them. Like the jackets are $5 off, sweaters are $4 . . .

Danielle Hegge 10:46

I was afraid I wouldn't pay the rent, and I'm paying the rent.

Danielle Hegge 10:49

If you have any questions, let me know.

Danielle Hegge 10:51

It's normal to have apprehension and worries and stuff, but she keeps giving me the signs when I'm at my weakest moment. I was having a little fit about two Wednesdays ago. Had to pick paint colors, and it felt really stressful to me. I'm not great at that. Stresses me out. My sister always told me what to paint because she just had an eye for that.

Dawn Mikkelson 11:16

Stuffing sadness inside, she went shopping and ended up in the back to school aisle.

Danielle Hegge 11:22

And I turn around and this is the notebook. This is the notebook that is sitting there on the counter.

Dawn Mikkelson 11:30

She reaches to the counter and grabs the notebook. Then she pulls up her sleeve.

Danielle Hegge 11:34

And this is my tattoo. I sent it to my tattoo artist, and she said, "Did you have someone make that for you?" And I said, "No, this is actually at Target." Like, isn't this insane?

Dawn Mikkelson 11:46

That's bizarre. Even the way the river moves, it's the same.

Danielle Hegge 11:50

It is. I now own 28 of these. No tebooks.

Dawn Mikkelson 11:53

You bought them all out.

Danielle Hegge 11:55

I bought a bunch.

Dawn Mikkelson 11:57

I stopped by on the first Saturday after Thanksgiving to see how things were going. The store was packed.

Danielle Hegge 12:04

You made me something? What is it? Oh, thank you. Welcome to Mrs. Hegge's store. Thank you, Rachel.

Rachel 12:16

Can I hang on up for you?

Danielle Hegge 12:18

Sure.

Danielle Hegge 12:20

Yay, thanks for bringing food for the food shelf. And then there's an event going on on the street for Christmas by the Lake. There's s'mores out there, hot cocoa, popcorn truck.

Danielle Hegge 12:30

So that's my son behind the counter.

Customer 12:33

Yes, thank you.

Dawn Mikkelson 12:34

It makes me think also of the idea of the "third space", which is this notion that communities need a space that isn't work that isn't home.

Danielle Hegge 12:45

So not your home, not your work, but a third space. I love that.

Dawn Mikkelson 12:48

The community comes together.

Danielle Hegge 12:50

I've only known school life. So to be in the business world is so different. I cannot believe the messages and emails I've gotten in support of people stopping, and they're like, they're so proud of me, and I'm like, I don't know, it's just, it's neat. It's really, really neat.

Danielle Hegge 13:10

Thanks for coming down, you guys.

Customer 13:12

All right. Thanks, Danielle. Good luck.

Danielle Hegge 13:14

Yeah, thank you so much.

Dawn Mikkelson 13:20

Danielle's story is one of reimagining what's possible and leveraging your past to make a better future. In the next episode, you will hear from a man whose stories of the past are legendary and illuminate how small town America has changed.

Dawn Mikkelson 13:38

I hope you'll join me and subscribe to Becoming Lake City as we explore what it means to be of a small town. A place like many in this country, full of beauty, complexity, and the opportunity to understand one another a little bit better.

Dawn Mikkelson 13:54

Becoming Lake City is a production of Emergence Pictures with music by David Ross Wilson at Soundbarn Studios, Minnesota. Logo by Jer Lanska. Special thanks to Marianne Combs for her advice and encouragement.

Dawn Mikkelson 14:09

This podcast is made possible by the Voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.