What's a fellow to do?

A terrible thought has been running through my mind lately.  “I should open a restaurant.”  Some of you that know me would ask “what do you know about restaurants?”  Others will say “that makes sense?”  Family would say “are you f-n crazy?”

For those of you who don’t know, I grew up in the restaurant business.  I watched its successes and failures from the inside.  Thankfully, for my education, there were many more successes.  Now I must admit that it did not seem like my parents had a lot of free time away from the restaurant, but I watched my dad for years and when I look back now I know that he was always happy when he was around the “customers.”  Because they weren’t just customers…they were friends and his ‘stage’. 

Now my fear is that once I embark on such an endeavor that all other hopes and dreams will take a back seat to the task at hand.  The dream of having a successful internet radio station, and helping youth battle back from abuse and be successful, or recording an album (that's a CD or Digital download for you millennials), will all fade into oblivion.

So it’s a thought.  For now.  But I think this particular blog is about my dad.  The one thing I remember that is burned into my mind is that he never complained about the hours, or the days, or the work.  Occasionally he had a temper.  Something would not go completely right and it would set him off, but nothing that I remember as life shattering.  He took it in stride.

When I was growing up my parents had many restaurants, but during a several year period they operated 2 simultaneously.  This was probably the best “restaurant” years for my dad.  You see, he loved my mother, but she was a different sort.  Reserved, old school, wasn’t really cut out for motherhood or marriage, but did it because it was expected of her.  And because of that she was never really committed emotionally to the family.  So time away was rejuvenating for him.  She wasn’t mean or physically abusive, she was just emotionally absent.  There was still “clean your room…take your clothes to the laundry…be back by ten,” but they all seemed rote.

But my dad!  Taught me how to ride a bike, drive a car (at 9), throw a baseball and a football and shoot a basketball and a list of other things.  I even got my love of music from him.  He would sing and whistle from the kitchen for all to hear in the restaurant.

So when I think of the restaurant business it is all very nostalgic.  Could I do it?  Yes.  Could I do it successfully?  Yes.  Could I do it with all the joy my father experienced?  Ah, there’s the rub.  I don’t know the answer to that one, and that is why it is just a thought.   For now.