The Tradewinds

For the first 10 years of my marriage...I didn't work.
Not for any money anyway.
I mean I had baby after baby.
I changed hundreds of diapers...
I nursed for 1000's of hours.
I cleaned many a toilet and spent "hard time" cleaning the floors.
I hardly left the house an watched MANY times as my husband and friends went to concert after concert while I stayed in.
I wiped nose after nose. An cleaned up puke more than I want to remember.
I wiped heiney's and potty trained 4 youth.
I cooked MANY meals( I say that loosely...I am not a very imaginative cook. Daddy does most of the cooking. Shhhhhhh. Don't judge. I do enough of that for myself.)
I wrote TONS of blogs an had all sorts of time to "sort-out-my-shit".
I educated my kids, and spent HOURS doing research on parenting and faith.
I read lots of books and formed many opinions in those years.
I truly believe that God used THOSE YEARS to shape an mold me.
I BECAME ME...in those years.
I learned WHO I was in that time.

An then, about a year and a half ago, I was offered a JOB.
You know, the kind that PAYS money.
It would mean being away from the family on Friday and Saturday nights...
but it would also mean less stress, and more time for Daddy to be home.
It would mean more money comming in an more money going out.
It was a blessing...and totally unexpected.
I knew it would help me get out of my comfort zone and jump right back into "the world".
I was so used to being with my kids and family.
I was safe and secure in my own world I had created for myself....
surrounded by babies, diapers, toys, books and LOVE.
THIS would be an adventure!!!

Because....this was no regular job.
THIS was a job as a cocktail waitress at Tradewinds Tropical Lounge in downtown St. Augustine.
It is known as the "Oldest Bar in the Oldest City".
To me...it is a mix of a honky tonk and "Roadhouse".
They ha ha the SAME BAND play Sunday thru Thursday nights for about 30 years!!!!
It has been there so long that Jimmy Buffett was FIRED from there and then went to the KEYS...and we all know the story from there.
Not EXACTLY where I would have THOUGHT my first job back in the REAL WORLD would be.
And NOT just because I never thought I would HAVE a paying job. LOL.
I have learned that .
I don't think ANYONE ever WANTS to go to work.
But...having a job at Tradewinds might be the BEST JOB ever,
AND
I have found that I say the same things at home to my KIDS as I do to my CUSTOMERS at WORK....

"Don't do THAT!! Are you SUPPOSED to put that THERE? Get down off the table, you might FALL! Pick THAT up. That dosen't go there! Are you serious???Go! You are not allowed in there!!!!"

So ..all in all...it has become as familiar as HOME to me.
A different family...but family all the same.





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