Fear, Terror, Losing Martha, Footers Catering, Alligator Pie

“I’m also fascinated by the difference between terror and fear. Fear says, “Do not actually put your hand in the alligator,” while terror says, “Avoid Florida entirely because alligators exist.”
— Mira Grant

5:42 a.m., it’s Saturday, we have a few folks here, we are heading down the hill to participate in Elevation Celebration, a community event with vendors, music, and bubbles.  We flew in two teammates; Jo and Dakota are still in bed but will be getting up soon to join us in meeting our community.

I woke up to a destroyed box of Kleenex; apparently, in another life, PVHT had beef with Kleenex, and she settled the score.  For the record PVHT 1, Kleenex 0.  As of this moment, she is tearing up a box of LaCroix water; get a dog, they said!

We had a fantastic experience yesterday; back in February, I participated in a leadership development day; I spoke for 20 minutes and met some unbelievable people.  One of those people was Anthony Lambatos.  A second-generation owner of a large catering company in Arvada, CO.  I think it fair to say that he and I have a slight man-crush on each other, our paths have aligned, he runs his company similar to ours.

I had my wife and teammate KC join me; we took a tour of his 40000 square feet event center/world headquarters.  It was an unbelievable journey of thought, history, and genius design.  After our tour, we were fed by their executive chef team, and let me tell you, the food was outstanding.   Anthony is a force to be reckoned with; find him on LinkedIn and connect. 

Occasionally I do two-day soups, and I think this might be one of those days. Unfortunately, I need to leave in 30 minutes; I need to shower, get my new TTG shirt, and meet our community’s people.   I’ll finish this soup tomorrow; cheers, I got to roll!

Fast forward to Monday morning, we had a house full yesterday, and we had to leave early to set up for our event.  The last two days have been pretty fantastic.  We met thousands of people, gave away a lot of swag, furthered our connection with our community, and had some fun in the process. Although I must share I’m a little tired, it’s 6:22 a.m., and I’m going to need a day to recoup.  2 back to back 12 hour days is a little much for this old-timer.

We shut down on Saturday and headed to Brooks Place Tavern; Mo-Jo’s brother joined us and ended up staying the night with us.  He was an interesting man with a hell of a story; it was great to meet someone who fought many battles.  We headed to the event yesterday, and our friends Allie, Keith, Kathy, John, and Sara joined us as we passed out suckers.   Our friend Lee joined us as well, and he pointed out the irony of me giving candy to kids as our VW bus door was open.  Our approach was to provide a kid a sucker and then put a sticker on them. It was a great time.

We met our neighbors, we met many strangers, most shared they had seen our band and thought we were a band or something other than an insurance firm. We found some like-minded folk that are going to transfer all their coverage to our firm; our weekend event was a success.   

The sunrise this morning, per usual, is breathtaking.   I woke to a text from a client and friend; he got a bill, both he and I thought it was taken care of; that will be number one on my list.  We still have Jo and Dakota staying here; they will head to the condo tonight and fly home tomorrow.  A successful trip for our team.

My wife just got up; soon, she will bound down the stairs, give me some sugar and get a cup of coffee before plopping down next to me and catch up on her social media activity.  Our pup is greeting her now, and speaking of PVHT, she hung all day with us, met many dogs and people; she’s a trooper, aside from her random battles with Kleenex.

A couple of our friends are starting a school.  Their daughter’s school shut down last year, and so they built a curriculum and will be offering an immersive learning experience from K to 12.   They are concerned about what is being taught in some of our schools and provide an alternative to families.

Yesterday I woke up and went to make coffee and our coffee maker of three years was dead.   Martha has served us well for the last three years, but her time, it seemed, had passed.  I did have some instant to use in a pinch, and we made tea for the others.  We called a funeral home and made plans for the funeral.  I had no idea the cost of a funeral for a coffee maker.  But alas, I woke up and tried Martha one more time, and like Jesus, she had returned from the dead and delivered a fantastic cup of Joe.  Hopefully, we can get a refund on the downpayment we made for the burial.  Let the record show, Martha is back in business.

I mentioned Kieth earlier; he just got back from a trip with his best friend.  They are hunters and went to FL to kill an alligator.  The beast was 8 feet long; he caught it fishing and plunged a large knife in the spine. So we will be eating gator soon in the mountains of CO.

That will do it, three days of life bundled into one morning soup.  I apologize if you missed me; it was nice to take a soup vacation; I promise I’ll be back daily, my calendar has returned to normal, I can get up and share my retrospective thoughts and ideas.  It’s another perfect day in paradise; I hope you too are living your best life; cheers, I’ll see you tomorrow.

“I’m also fascinated by the difference between terror and fear. Fear says, “Do not actually put your hand in the alligator,” while terror says, “Avoid Florida entirely because alligators exist.”
— Mira Grant