Priorities

Sitting here in the little roadside café where I once worked as a short order cook. Christ. Time is a trip. I arrived at the farm at 5:30am on Wednesday morning. I couldn’t wait around to leave. As soon as I picked my mom up from the airport and took her home I drove to my apartment in downtown Columbia, loaded up the X-Terra and headed out. Once on I-77 I stopped at the Blythewood exit and filled the gas tank. Then I check the tire pressure on the truck, the trailer and the 4 wheeler. Hopped back in the truck and off I went. No traffic in the middle of the night. Smooth sailing. Thinking of my dad during the drive. Thinking of my family, my friends, my life, my dreams, hopes, plans and goals. Past, present, future. Got to the farm moments before light began creeping into the sky. Unloaded everything, made my bed and promptly passed out. Woke around noon. Rubbed my eyes and found it somewhat surreal that I was there. Then I got busy. By 4pm I had a P.O. Box set up and internet and digital phone ordered and scheduled to be installed this coming Monday. As much as I liked the internet when I lived in the city I think I’ll appreciate it even more out here in the country. It’s quiet and chock full of solitude. At night the bull frogs start honking. Fireflies light up the mountainsides. If there is no moon it is pitch black dark.

Yesterday I hit the ground running and started my new job. It’s so wild to be working with my old mentor again. Makes me feel like a kid in some ways. I’m sure I’ll write more about him later but suffice it to say the man is organized and super anal about his work. I know I still have a ton to learn from him so it’s not hard to fall back into the role of apprentice. He respects me and what I’ve done with my career since I last worked with him. His dishes are intricate and involve many steps. It’s quite different from my signature style. It will be good for me to learn his ways. It will help me step up my game and wash away any bad habits I formed while working in Columbia.

God I’ve got so much to do. I want to do it all RIGHT NOW but that’s not how things work. It’s a process and I have to be patient. Baby steps. From now until the first of June I just need to focus on my job and getting the menu and execution dialed in. I’ll be going back to Columbia to cater a junior league luncheon on the 3rd and a wedding reception on the 5th. Then I’ll move the rest of the things out of my apartment, tie up those loose ends, pack another load into the X-Terra and trailer and make the final move up the road. Then I can get down to business with everything else. Namely winterizing the cabin, putting in a vegetable garden and cleaning up the farm…the land itself. It’s been ages since it has been properly cared for so there is a lot of work to do. I’m bringing dad’s riding lawnmower up with me in June. That will help but what I really need is a farm tractor with a brush hog. When I get those things I will make short work of clearing the fields and sprucing the place up. There’s also firewood to cut and stack. And I need to purchase and install a wood burning stove for the winter. I’ve got 5-6 months to get all this stuff done if I really want to stay here year-round. But I have to prioritize. I’m light years ahead of where I had been in my past attempts to live here. I have a JOB for one thing! That always helps. And I’m a man. Before I was a boy.

It’s exciting. This unknown. I know I’ll feel even better about things once I am back from catering the luncheon and reception. At that point I will really be HERE. I’ll be able to get into a routine and start making the moves and doing the work that will build on itself. Every journey starts with the first step and I’ve taken that step. And it feels pretty goddamn amazing.