I remember thinking Zach would never make it on his own, when he turned tail and drove back to Georgia three years ago, after just living here in Orlando for three days.
Yet here we are, three years down the road of Life, and Zach is doing just fine, and still living in Georgia.
Zach has always marched to the beat of a different drum. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what kind of drum that is.
I know he's had some minor difficulties and bumps along the way, but has pretty much done every thing he said he was going to do when he left us here in Orlando...and never asked us for any help.
He didn't have a cell phone for the longest time; telling me he didn't need one. It about drove me nuts(ier) and finally bought him a pre paid used phone. I had Massey set it up and shipped it off to him. She and I alternated paying the $30 a month, just so we would have some way to get in touch with him...or (more importantly) vice-versa.
I bet he's lost or broke four different phones during the past three years. He's never asked for another one, instead he would just randomly text us from someones' phone and let us know he didn't have the phone anymore so we should cancel the pre pay.
He's a hard working kid, pursuing a career in the culinary field...and doing quite well.
He's not getting rich but he's getting by, and doing what he loves.
Every person should be so lucky...and know I am grateful to be one of them.
There is nothing worse than going into a job you hate, day after day after day. Week after week after week. It will literally suck the life out of you...hour by hour, week after week...and then some.
Then the months turn into years and before you know it, you're a jaded and resentful puppet, receiving your seemingly tiny penance for dancing for the boss man.
My husband had a job one time, many years ago. He worked it for well over ten years...and hated it every single day. The employer/owner berated him, called him names and treated everyone horribly. They would call Tim at three or four in the morning because they couldn't figure something out for themselves.
But it paid our bills so he went in. Every single day.
In over ten years, he never missed one day of work. That's the kind of man I was lucky enough to marry.
I'll never forget the time Tim told me, his boss told him (in a meeting) he was nothing more than garbage floating in the ocean.
For my husband...
When we hit the skids (shortly thereafter) Tim went through another really hard time. It seemed no one was begging to hire peeps in their fifties, in the year 2008.
Then I lost my job, for giving my kid a scoop of ice cream at work without ringing it in...when they already knew my husband had been out of work for well over a year.
I'll never eat LongHorn again. (but still love several peeps I know from there)
Then a year later our 401(k) was gone and we were broker than broke.
I spent years and years being pissed off at Tim's former employer and even more so with a sour business deal which went south right after that, leaving us with a $38,000 IRS debt we are still paying off...not to mention the restaurant which hung me out to dry after thirteen years of doing a pretty great job for them.
Here's the thing.
Be diligent in life, never give up, never give in and never let the enemy win...in any facet of your existence. Think like a boss.
Zach is doing exactly that. He didn't want to move to Orlando. He wanted to be on the opening team of a really cool and eclectic restaurant and do something to wow everybody, in the little ole town of Newnan, Georgia.
And he did.
We miss him, and hope he misses us too.
Whatever trail he follows is up to him. I just hope it crosses ours from time to time.
I worry about all three of my kids, all the time.
But Zach is a rebel.
And so was I.
It worries me when one of mine is a lot like me.
It may be a good thing, but who knows for sure?
Till next time...Cotton
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