I had a fair sized catering Friday evening. 55 boxes delivered to a lovely little farm in Williamston. I’ve never been a big fan of catering deliveries lord knows I spend enough time driving around but I don’t mind this drive it takes me down some old memory roads as a child. It’s a little touch of God’s country, not overrun with people and I love a road filled with trees and green shade. My parents are buried not too far down the road from there I can almost touch their souls from there.

The location is a little lavender farm that hosts an annual picnic and I’m honored to be the main caterer for the event. I believe this my third one. I take my time dropping off the boxes while my nostrils flare from all the lavender aromatherapy I get. If I could brag on any of my senses it’s my sense of smell. It’s probably why my palette has kept money in my pocket I can differentiate odors, taste the air or break down what fast food you had for lunch the minute I walk into your house. It makes up for being blind as shit and semi deaf.

I order special sized boxes for this catering to make the price point work for both of us. 9×9 window boxes I order from Amazon. Special events I don’t use pizza boxes the outside aesthetics are just as important as the inside. Pizza boxes are great for what I do but some events need more attention and it’s what I do. I ordered 75 boxes for a two day delivery on Monday night. Boxes would arrive Thursday and I’d take them into work with me early am to get things rolling. I had a total of 60 boxes on my itinerary for Friday. 55 of them going to the farm. Go ahead and throw in three more I made from passerby’s asking for grab and go. In this business you grab when you can.

Thursday all day I kept on eye on my tracking for my catering boxes (I also had two 3 foot boards arriving for an order this morning). The boxes were expected to arrive by 10pm at the latest. I stayed up to insure they didn’t get rained on or some schmuck didn’t take them off my porch. 10pm is late for me I’m in bed at 9 at the latest and Friday was going to be a long one. I checked my porch at 9:50 and said “screw it” and when to bed, the boxes will be fine I need some sleep for Friday. I woke up a little restless around 2:30am and went to grab the boxes off my porch.

*opens door

No boxes

I grab my phone to look at delivery update and Amazon had decided Thursday would not be the day I would receive my packages.

2:30am is a terrible time for bad news. We all know the worst time to overthink anything is when we are lying in the dark in the middle of the night. I could feel the old Chad creeping out. This would be the ideal time for him to come out and play.

Fury

Anger

Discombobulated

Scared

The positive part of the situation is I was very aware of the old Chad coming to a head. I lied in bed and told him to go back to sleep.

As I inhaled he screamed at me to let him take over

As I exhaled he’d distance himself from me

The more I did it the less he screamed, the more I did it the more I relaxed.

“There is absolutely nothing you can do to fix this situation at 2:30 in the morning”

“Go to sleep, it’s just boxes you’ll find a solution you always do”

I woke up at 5, did my morning routine with my shoulders relaxed. I knew my schedule was at mercy of retail stores opening up at 9 so I had my assistant start the process of assembling while I searched for boxes. As luck would have it my friends at If It’s Paper had a solution for me. They were larger than what I needed but they were same aesthetic.

They would work. We started the boxes three hours late but I had until 6 before I had to deliver. The very first box I made I dropped it on the ground. I winced and felt the old Chad wave at me in the back room I shoved him in earlier. He winked, I flipped him off. He smiled

The deli phone rings about three times a day. Friday it rang 20 plus. I’m the receptionist, counter person, salad guy most days as I was Friday. Of course as luck would have it we had a decent lunch, I had several inquiries about box orders and as I was working I would see texts, fb messages and IG messages piling up on my phone. I was three hours off course, sleep didn’t go so well for me the night before and when you’re doing mass assembly line you want to keep your muscle memory moving in the same direction, you want momentum. When you have to stop to do other things your mind takes a minute to reset into assemble mode. My assistant who helps with boxes has a full time job so I get him for about three hours. I needed him for at least six.

I tied up the last box at 5:57. Car was already running. I needed to leave at 6 to get three at the appropriate time 6:45.

I got to the farm at 6:44.

I maintained “me” the whole day. With the exception of a short frustrating text to my wife “I’m tired of having to hustle to make money”.

And then I exhaled.

The drive through Williamston was beautiful. I was almost 10 again riding in the back of a pickup truck bed. I rolled the windows down to bring that vibe back into my soul. My friends at the farm had big fat smiles on their faces when I arrived and I took a deep breath in to enjoy the lavender. I kept the windows down the whole way home with the radio turned off. 12 hours of work done.

Shitty day? Nah it was a profitable one after a very slow week. I got home, fed my belly, placed my tired feet up and smiled.

I didn’t need the old Chad that day. He only wanted to protect me but I don’t need protection anymore.

You see old Chad is my nervous system.

He’ll always be around and that’s fine sometimes you have to remember for you to forget.

Friday was a hard one man. Days like this you don’t get to sit down, no cigarette breaks with my crew (I don’t smoke anyway) no sitting in a chair with a sandwich in my hand. You go into work and you don’t stop until your feet are propped on the coffee table at home.

It comes with the job.

I went to bed with a smile on my face.

Struggle brings gratitude. It was a tough day but I did it on my terms.

Today will be beautiful. I’ve got some solid orders on my calendar today and then two days off to reflect.

Life’s beautiful yall. Act accordingly ☮️