I’m back. I haven’t spent that much time away from writing since I sobered up over five years
ago. It feels good to be back in front of the computer screen, thinking about
how much I have to write about. Aside from my anniversary post, I haven’t
written anything but my wedding vows for nearly two months. Yesterday I
finalized my vows, and printed them, and deleted permanently the digital copy
so Amanda can’t find them. I wrote 402 words, which is a little over half of a
normal blog post. It isn’t a blog post, nor is it written like one. I like it,
and I hope she does, too.
A lot has happened in the last two months. We’ve planned,
paid for, and talked about the wedding every day since (and well before) the
proposal. Weddings are expensive, but not for rich people. I commented in a
meeting at work this week that the cost of the salads for a particular wedding
at the club was more than our entire food cost. We definitely are on a budget
for our event, but I don’t want the focus to be on food, I want people to
remember this wedding for so many other reasons, and I hope they do.
In 35 days, I get to marry the woman I love. It’s only
symbolic, but it means a lot to a few people. Last week we went to get our
marriage license at which point I could have legally had my name changed to
King Pineapple after the wedding, but neither Amanda nor the records office
employee even hinted at a smile when I made the suggestion.
We reached a milestone. We have received over 100 R.S.V.P.’s.
I think that’s a pretty good number for inviting roughly 200 people. There’s
still plenty of time, but if you have received an invite and you haven’t
responded yes or no, we would appreciate it if you could. Enough on that.
Work has been stressful this year. Summers are normally
hectic in the restaurant industry, but this season seems to be particularly taxing
for so many reasons but mostly a large and consistent turnover of tenured and
new staff alike. The middle of the busy season is not when we should be
training staff, but this is our steady condition as we collide with each day
and somehow survive. There is light at the end of the tunnel as we have hired a
new chef and he has made some executive decisions and made moves with our
guidance to alleviate pressure on the kitchen. Personally, I haven’t taken a sit-down
break in about two months, and I am well-worn at the end of the day but I know
I have accomplished an incredible amount of work and have been part of the
solution, not part of the problem, much like I try to do in my sobriety.
I continue to attend my meeting in town and I always look
for opportunity to bring meetings into institutions and recently I applied to
the county jail for a monthly spot. The application itself was vague and didn’t
ask about my background; however there was a spot at the bottom for the recipient
to check a box that said Background
check completed. I applied because I was told there just needs to be a
two-year window from the last period of incarceration, so I went for it. It’s
been three weeks since I sent off my application and I haven’t heard anything.
I will call them soon to see what’s happening.
Six hundred words in and I now have a four-year-old next to
me dying for attention. Also, we have a new member of the family in a German
Shepherd. He needs to go pee or poop, much like myself, so I’ll stop this post
here and I will take him outside and show him how to go potty on the lawn. I’ll
write again soon.
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| Willie, meet Roofus. |
