As you can see, I ceased to blog in late June of last year.
Some of you may be wondering why. The answer is layered, as is everything in life, but events of last summer began to overwhelm me, and I just didn't know how to write about them. I was not ready, was not able.
My husband is a retired military man. This is a thing anyone reading my blog knows. He returned from a second deployment to Afghanistan with a changed mind about several things.
The strongest theme I saw that had become different in his personality was a renewed determination not to waste any time. Somehow, the urgency and uncertainty of days spent in a war zone had impressed upon him that life is not a thing to be taken for granted. He knew military retirement was imminent, and knew that he would not settle for sitting around or taking it easy.
I did not really know this guy, but liked him and together we tried to figure out what should be next.
My husband has always been the guardian of the down trodden. His efforts to help other people believe in themselves stemmed from a childhood of knowing only too well what is was like not to.
We had always had a heart for Boulder Junction. Settling there into a business that could bring something of a new destination to the community was something that felt right, felt like a homecoming for me, and was a move inspired by the endeavors of my family's contributions to the community in years past.
After much prayer and soul searching, we found our path leading us to purchase the building now known as the Aqualand Ale House in 2012. We knew one thing- we knew next to nothing about what we were about to embark upon, but we trusted that the urging we felt in our hearts was true. So we moved forward into what has been the most difficult and incredibly rewarding adventure of our lives.
I would guess that my spouse would say that figuring out this business has been tougher than war. That the logistics of some of our largest hurdles would rank second in difficulty, surpassed only by the logistics of moving an entire base of buildings, equipment and vehicles from USA to Nicaragua and back- a thing he did in 2002.
The first two years have been hard- very hard. Just as we were getting to feel somewhat in control, in late June of last year, we received news that no one wants to hear.
The man who had survived so much was diagnosed with cancer. Mildly aggressive and of a treatable sort, but never-the-less the "C" word that we all despise. Just over a month later, he was in an accident of the "lucky to walk away from that one" sort. We lost our chef, a terrible blow in the height of the summer season, and we were reeling from some IRS issues, the result of our inexperience. Our business was seeing success, so much so that we could barely handle it, and as the review sites will attest, we had a few bad days that will haunt us for a long time.
In the face of this, I just didn't know what to write about, what to say, except- Huh? why?
But we learned something in the second half of 2014. We came to understand that we cannot always understand. We cannot always choose the events that come our way, but we can choose how we deal with them.
In a crazy way, we got a lot more relaxed. I remember Lt. Dan in the movie "Forrest Gump", tied o the mast of the shrimp boat in a storm yelling at God- "Is that all you've got"? If someone had told us what we would face, we probably would have thought twice about the whole adventure. But now that we are in it, we somehow got surprised by our resilience.
We are looking at the summer of 2015 with completely different eyes. The surgery to eliminate the "C" from our lives for good is just around the corner, the chef we found late last summer is a rock star, the former co- owner of a famous local restaurant we all loved when I was growing up- George's Steak House. His way with Fire roasting meats is fantastic. Our IRS adventures are resolved and the last lingering injury from the accident should be resolved soon as well. The biggest gift of all though was our son joining us in the business, to help and stand in the gaps left by Dr. appointments and tests. Thank you Dan- we love you.
While my husband recuperates from surgery, we hope to dive into bigger capital improvements that will enhance our kitchen and expand our use of the Frog House side of the building. We are excited about 2015, anxious to see what it holds for us.
We are amazed at all the new friendships and loyal guests that we have found as a part of our adventure. You stuck with us, forgave us in our learning and have encouraged us along the way.
We endeavor to bring you new and even better us this year.
You may have noticed our new website- a gift from our other son who shares his programming talents with us- such a blessing. As part of our capital improvements, we are beginning again with a new blog that will be linked from this site as well. This blog will share regularly about alehouse events, adventures, staff, menu items. The plan is to incorporate less of the history and more of the present- more photos, more links and overall much, much more about the beer- the backbone of our business.
Sorry for my silence- some things will throw you for a while, but a girl raised with wolves always gets back up!
