Obligatory Sappy Goodbye Post

So - here we are at the end and the beginning.  My last day at work was about a week and a half ago and I still haven't really wrapped my head around the fact that I'm actually leaving.  Even though the time managing the cafe was exhausting and stressful, it was also been rewarding beyond measure.  For a portion of time, it was my whole life.  At this point, it kind of feels like I'm just going on an extended vacation.  

I'm going to miss my team.  Even though I've wanted to strangle them sometimes - some more than others - with varying degrees of violence - they've been an amazingly resilient, hard working, and fantastic group of people.  Despite, or maybe because of the diverse personalities, I've found that our little group does a great job of working together and pushing through fatigue and all the personal/emotional [stuff] that life throws at them.  I very rarely (honestly, if ever) hear any complaining or witness any outbursts, which I think is rare.  They continue to grow as individuals and as a team, and their evolution continues to humble me.

I'm also going to miss the space.  The shop has been such a beautiful and inviting place to work.  From the gorgeous hand-made ceramics to the huge storefront windows (thank you sunlight!) each detail has been meticulously curated by our chef, to the advantage of the overall space.  Literally, at least once a day, I've heard a comment from a guest exclaiming about the spectacular aesthetics of the shop and I've been reminded about how lucky I am to have been able to spend the majority of my days in such a pretty place.  

Somehow, miraculously, I'm going to miss our guests, perhaps most of all.  Its a different kind of esteem that I have for the regulars that come in everyday.  My team is great and I'm going to miss them because they are all, at their core, good people.  I know this because I helped to hire them, so the fact that I'm going to miss them comes as no surprise. The fact that I'm going to miss our guests, does come as a bit of a surprise.  I think its safe to say that by and large, most of the people who work in hospitality don't love the people they take care of - usually it ranges from mild complaints to funny stories to all-out vitriol.  Very rarely do you hear a server, host, cook, cleaner, whoever, tell a story about how much they love their guests.  But I do.  They were a bright mark everyday, reminding me why I do what I do, and why I love it.  The sense of ownership they had in the shop and the neighborly friendship that they extended to us was so special and so real that I'm gratified just to have been able to have been a part of it.

So thank you!  Thank you team, thank you neighbors, thank you guests.  Thank you chef, thank you everyone who was supportive and helpful, thank you family and thank you boyfriend.  I learned so much and truly (maybe for the first time) loved my job and who I worked with and where I worked.  I sincerely cherish every moment I had.

Now...

On to new things!