Recently, one of my best pals from high school stopped by the ale house. We had re-connected on facebook and had caught up on lots of family history via this social media opportunity. But of all the things I had posted, Mac remembered me referring to my husband as a “free-range” husband as my stand-out comment. He shook my husband’s hand and told us he wants to be a free-range husband too.
Just last weekend, my husband explained to a group of our friends that he finds playing it safe to be a false goal. Risk and reward go hand in hand. His philosophy and faith challenge him to stretch us and always be ready to be challenged. Opening the Aqualand Ale House in northern Wisconsin is an extreme risk.
I wonder sometimes if he had known then what he knows now, if he would change anything. This endeavor has certainly been the most challenging thing we have ever done, to include two years of separation while he risked all in a war zone thousands of miles away. I have hinted in previous blogs that there are many stories we could tell. Let me just say as I give you a glimpse- we are now VERY stretchy!
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger right? Well, we are also particularly strong now. The power has gone out four times, always when we were open and serving- the issues everything from a lighting strike to stressing the capacity during hot humid and peak service times. The septic had to be upgraded immediately rather than staging our upgrades the way we had discussed with the state. Several key pieces of kitchen equipment have leaked, broken down or been non-functioning. Thank goodness the power was already out the night the big brown bat found his way in an open doorway….Mr. Military is not so good with bats, so I grabbed the broom and our bartender’s dad and I helped him find his way back outside. Our credit cards are run via internet. Well, every time the power goes out, the server has to be re-set, not an easy task and the first two times we didn’t recognize the issue until it was time to help someone pay their bill. It was one of the many moments we were crying for the help of our techno-sons.
Having never scheduled staff, we did not initially realize that this would truly be the most challenging weekly task. Many weeks I would be left feeling that in trying to make everyone ok, no one was ok. Everyone’s needs and life schedules are a puzzle, and since most of our staff work part time, they all have other job or jobs to work around as well. I will say this- I am very impressed with the enterprising attitude of our college and high school workers. No one can accuse our young adults of being lazy that’s for sure!
I entitled this post Free- Range husband. And this is what I want to close with. My husband comes from a modest, hardworking ,faith-based south western Wisconsin agricultural family. He has always shared the story of his very first visit to Boulder Jct as a journey into a fantasy kingdom. The icing on his cake during that first visit was the newborn fawn in my parent’s kitchen as was so often the case in our zoo family home.
He never knew my paternal grandfather, who passed away when I was a teenager, but he has admired the courage and tenacity and slight craziness of my family’s story. For him, to be able to celebrate and pay homage to Aqualand’s history as part of our new venture means absolutely everything. His respect for my family and their courage is evident in everything he hopes to emulate. I love my husband so and love him more than ever for loving Boulder Jct as much as I do.
In a piece I once wrote about my husband’s office guy career prior to his deployments overseas, I referred to his office/officer life as “death by cubicle”. The chaotic, messy and challenging life of a small business owner suits his free ranging nature so much better.
We are risking everything, trusting God and flinging our arms wide. No matter what happens, we will never be accused of being safe or boring. People ask if we will ever brew our own beer. I have to tell you, I see that crazy, rogue-elemental glint in my husband’s eye as he says, “not yet”, and know that we are not done stretching yet…and as I shiver a little in fear I find myself also wondering if Mac wants to become a brewmaster?!
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