I hurt.  My first few steps out of bed this morning were very painful.  Yesterday I worked from 7 am until 12 pm.  Okay: 11pm really with an hour of hanging with my Friday night regulars that can’t possibly be called work.  In between those hours we served over 250 in the deli and another 100 at an off-site catering engagement.  I feel tired, lonely and more than a little stressed about staffing issues, investor issues, growth issues and relationship issues.  I ache down the stairs and saddle up to my inbox.

I am 40.  I’m not a kid any more.  I no longer need anyone’s approval or appreciation in order to feel good about myself.  However, at times like these, when I ache and moan and hear my bones creak it feels really good when I get messages and reminders of why I do what I do.

Its the people I serve that I love so much.  The parents who bring their newborn children – escaping the house for the “first time in 7 weeks”, the regulars who let me know when we’re great and not as great, the first-timers who rave and the old-timers who reminisce.  

I’m crazy for my food too.  I’m insane about hot crispy well-seasoned french fries.  Hot smoked meat cut just the way you want it.  Poutine that oozes cheese and gravy and flavour.  And my soups? If a Jew could be a Nazi about soups… no.  That’s not right.  I have too much respect for Selma and Chaim Engel to go there.  Speaking of respect… today is Shabbat.  My people’s day of rest.  But not my day of rest.  Today is our busiest day and after preparing a new batch of spices, I will creak these bones into work and do my best.  

What else is there?

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 13th, 2008 at 12:06 pm and is filed under Caplanskys. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.