Hopefully By the New Year

One year to the day before Kate & I would get married, we were at the SDSU market, hiding from the sun & selling Cheezers to college students & faculty.  

Thursdays felt like they were getting shorter, but the heat was constant.  With close to twenty hot food vendors out there, we felt pretty good about our sales numbers, though.  That & we didn't have to drive forty miles home afterwards, like we had at Oceanside.

That day, I drove back to OB solo in the Escape.  Kate was catching the trolley to go see Beyonce, Jay-Z & DJ Khaled at Qualcomm Stadium.  I was gonna go unload & walk over to the OBMA Sundowner at Ocean Villa Inn next to Dog Beach.

Five & half years ago, I went to the Sundowner there with my old roommate, Zack, two nights before Mad Munch's debut.  Now, I was taking my buddy, Tony, who'd helped me out at Golden Hill market a few times when Kate was out of town.

Times had changed, but somethings were still familiar.  There was plenty of food & booze at that month's business mixer & this time around more people recognized me from the OB market.

"When you guys gonna open the shop?"  Everyone wanted to know.

"Hopefully by the new year," I said, trying to sound confident, but really with my fingers crossed in my mind.

Kate & I were still pushing Chris, but there was only so much that we could do about architecture, calculations, & getting our plans stamped by the city.

It was a good turnout at the Ocean Villa.  Even though, we didn't win any raffle prizes, Tony & I helped clean up & ended up moving with the keg of beer to a house on Lotus Street.  Tony & I drank solo cup beers in somebody's front yard, much like we did back at SIU.

I stumbled back home around the same time Kate got back from the concert, but the good news was that we both had the rest of the weekend off.  La Mesa Oktoberfest was going on all weekend where the Friday market was, so it was cancelled, & I was catching a solo flight back to Illinois for my good friend's Rob & Joanna's wedding.

So, Kate went camping out at Mount Laguna with some friends & I went back to central Illinois for a fun reception that felt like a class reunion.  We both got asked, "When are you guys gonna open the shop?"

When you're hanging out with friends & having a few cold ones, grilled cheese always seemed to come up in conversation.  There was no avoiding it.  It was the big mess that we'd got ourselves into, but we stayed positive & focused on getting through it.

"Hopefully, by the new year," I said.  "Permits are the worst."