I thought it would be slow. Columbus Day is Monday and the school's are out Monday and Tuesday. Four day weekend and most people head out of town. I guess the people that love Italian food hung around. I had to be back on the floor at 3:00 so I scrambled out the door around 1:50 after calling Massey and telling her to throw the Corned Beef brisket in the crock pot and put it on high. I told Zach to peel some potatoes and he called me back saying "Green things are growing out of them and they're gross."
I left work and flew into Publix to pick up more taters. I got to the check out and a young girl who I haven't seen in over two years was bagging. She is "One of my next door husband's daughter's best friends" (sounds like a messed up "Baby Mama story") and although we chat a lot on line via Face book I haven't seen her in quite a while. Actually the last time I saw her she was a kid. She is now a beautiful young woman and I didn't recognize her at first. DANG...is EVERYBODY gettin' old?
When the little hamster in my head started spinning on his wheel again I realized this young woman was the former kid I had known for quite a number of years and had blossomed into a grown woman.
She asked when Tim was leaving and said "I am addicted to your blog." This young girl has been reading my blog and following my journey which I have willingly put out here for possibly millions to read. Her positive comments inspired me, pumped me up and urged me on.
I turned into my driveway on two wheels (felt like it) and started barking orders. I threw together the cornbread with sour cream and whole kernel corn and put it in the fridge. Chopped up some cabbage and flung it into a pot on the stove and turned it on low. The taters were boiling and the cabbage was cooking...time to go back to work!
I got Zach to take me back so he could go by Barnes and Noble to get Massey the novel she was writing a Junior paper about.
I got back to work and they were just as flustered as when I left. Business just didn't stop...peeps just kept on coming in. Another girl I work with is a few years younger than me but closer to my age than most of my co workers. She was lamenting that she looked in the mirror when she got up and was dismayed to see she had grown another chin seemingly overnight. In actuality "She's trippin" but I zoned in on the opp for a joke and said "It's been disgusting to look at." My other server friend who is WAY too much like me said "You're going to have to start wearing a scarf around your neck." I told her we could get her a "Dickie" to wear under her shirt. She asked if I saw her double chin and I quickly said "You have more chins than a Chinese phone book."
The joke just grew and grew until we were all cracking up. I told her I had a new nickname for her "Dickie Two Chins."
I hated it when she left after her shift...less comedy material for me. We plundered on without her and I got my butt thoroughly beat. I called home a couple of times to make sure they hadn't burned the house down with me leaving them with four pots cooking on the stove.
Another one of my fave servers commented coming into the kitchen "The guy at my table smells like he didn't wipe his butt good or something." I told her "That's strange, his wife said he's the sh*t.!"
I told her I knew him..."He's an okay guy, I THINK his last name is Key but KNOW his first name's Duke."
We laughed about that for about twenty more minutes. We were both tired and been there since 10:30 with me leaving for thirty minutes to "Feed the Hungry" aka my kids.
It was one of the longest shifts of my life. I expected it to be slow and when it wasn't I was caught off guard and thrown under the bus of life. We made it through...mostly by laughing and mainly through the immense camaraderie we have in our server staff.
When you work as much as I do... it makes it almost seem like a pleasure to go in day after day and see smiling faces of co workers , not only happy to see you but "Friends" that work together, get screwed on a shift together or have a great shift together...helping out another server or another server helping them out .
I will miss my Mama Lucias' family. It has been the best restaurant I have ever been fortunate enough to work for and hands down the one I will miss the most.
Counting down the days...and trying to gain the courage to leave this wonderful place I landed...the place that helped save and rescue me.
What will "Dickie Two Chins" and "Janine" do without me?
Bigger question....
What will "I" do without "Them?"
Til next time, getting nervous but still stoked about the future..."COTTON"
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