If I were to come up with a list of 10 things that make me an adult, going out for a weekly brunch on Sundays would be one of them. (At the top of that list would be attending a party and bringing something like a veggy tray with you.)  A few months ago, my fiance and I discovered an awesome restaurant that had a phenomenal salad bar.  It was reasonably priced, came with soup and we loved it.

We returned two weeks ago on a sunny Sunday morning and decided it would become a weekly thing.  We would wake up, walk our dog and head out to the restaurant.  A tradition was born.

THE TRAGEDY OF WEEK TWO…

The next week we were extremely excited about our lunch date and left earlier.  When we reached the restaurant, everything seemed normal until we saw a couple people staring at a sign posted on the front door.

“Are they closed!”

That was our first thought but we never could have predicted what the sign actually said…  Bankrupt.  Bankrupt!?  We were stunned.  The two times we ate at the restaurant it was absolutely packed with people.  What happened?  Then the devastation set in.  In an instant, we lost our brand new weekly tradition after one week and we were left starving with no place to go.  It’s not easy to find a place you’re willing to visit every week.  Those types of restaurants are extremely rare and dammit, I wanted soup and salad!

As we drove around aimlessly looking for a replacement meal, I started thinking about the story behind the bankruptcy.  Did the owner mismanage money or simply bite off more than he/she could chew?  Maybe the owners were crooks and continually stole funneled large sums of cash out of that place.  Then I started thinking about the lives of the employees who were most certainly unemployed.  Did they know it was coming?  Everyone seemed happy the previous week.  Were they serving us knowing full well they only had a few more days left to work?  Did they find out like we did by showing up and reading that horrible sign?

I wondered if they were as surprised as we were that it closed.  Or maybe it just wasn’t busy that often…  Still, I couldn’t help but feel bad about the people who lost their jobs.  I’m still holding on to the hope that someone will step up, buy the place and rehire everyone.  Their service was awesome after all.  Each and every one of those people has a story and I thought a lot about them.

The different scenarios I came up with made me stop thinking about my disappointed stomach and more about appreciating the things I have in life.  Something we should all be doing on a daily basis.

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