The Singer and the Unlocked Door

I was hoping to have very little to write about this morning. I thought I would write a quick story about Your Daily Fiber’s 10th anniversary sale day and customer appreciation party. I thought I would thank everyone that stopped by. What the (construction language) was I thinking?

Oh, we did have a great 10th anniversary sale and customer appreciation party. I would like to thank everyone stopped by and took advantage of the day.

A quick backstory about the singer. He was the live entertainment at Your Daily Fiber’s grand opening. He has ties to Elaine’s engineering world. Actually, he was the founder of the engineering company that has employed Elaine for the last thirty years. Along with being a great electrical engineer, the guy does a great cover of Bob Dylan, Springsteen and Neil Young.

Years ago, Jim displayed his talent singing at company summer picnics. When Elaine and I started Your Daily Fiber, we couldn’t get the booking agents for Dylan, Springsteen or Neil Young to even return our calls. Jim’s agent not only returned our call, (Thanks, Scilla) she signed him up.

For those of us that were at both the grand opening and the 10th anniversary (Believe it or not, there are some of those people.) we were entertained and appreciate the talent. Jim hadn’t changed much in those ten years. His voice and guitar playing are spot-on. His attire was more golfing engineer than rock star. You don’t get many engineering projects looking like you have been on a seven year heroin high. Just saying.

One thing that had changed in ten years was Jim’s choice of shoes. At our grand opening, Jim wore matching shoes, at least that’s the way I remember it. At the 10th anniversary, Jim’s son pointed out to me something had changed.

Son: Did you see my dad’s shoes? Me: No, what’s up with your dad’s shoes? Son: (laughing) They are not the same!

Sure enough, Jim had on two white leather tennis shoes, one trimmed with three black stripes, one completely white. Jim promised to be at Your Daily Fiber before 3:00 o’clock. He just didn’t have time to look for matching shoes. Somehow, I think Dylan, Springsteen and Neil Young would have just been late. God, I love Jim.

I need to thank everyone for ten great years. Unlike most family businesses, we never had even one disagreement. Nope, not one. Not one time did Ivy threaten to quit. Ivy has never told me to shove the store up my (construction language). Not once, unlike most family businesses.

Thank you!

My story is not over.

After the store was closed, our family took a breath from the busy day. Elaine announced, “Elaine Sipes Textiles had a pretty good day. I want to take the family to dinner.” I was confused as to why she would make an offer like that. At the anniversary party, we served wine, beer and cider. We had meat trays, fruit trays cheese trays, other trays and, oh yeah, Monner’s berry/pepper world famous salsa. What else did we need? Elaine said, "I just wanted to unwind before we go home."

I’m going to take a chance here and tell EVERYONE, that while Elaine offered, I actually paid for dinner. Another example of a family business that loves working together.

Oh well, we had a lovely dinner and a nice ride home. AND THEN!

I’m not a guy that sleeps eight straight hours, never have been. I sleep with earphones and listen to NPR off and on most nights. Yes, I listen to NPR. I like to know what the president is doing, over and over and over again. They love to talk about Presidents, especially this one.

Last night, it was 2:00, I was particularly interested in what was on NPR. Did you know ‘80’s heavy metal is popular today in Cambodia? I didn’t know that either. I am not a fan of ‘80’s heavy metal, American or Cambodian. I would like to thank NPR for making me realize I don’t ever want to go to Cambodia.

I was awake listening to a bunch of guys from Cambodia screaming and playing (construction language) sounding guitars when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I heard, “Did we lock the store?” I heard Elaine say, “I saw Dad lock the door.” I got out of bed. “I locked the door the first time, but I went back in to get my glasses. Let’s go back and lock the door.”

Ivy and I got back to bed at 4:30. Cambodian heavy metal was still on NPR. Sometimes all lives (construction language), especially mine.

Oh yeah, Fairy God Mother, this is not the story I was going to write. Maybe next week.

Our crazy lives!

Monner