Round Deux

I met Jon about 8 years ago when I heard a story about someone that someone works with; This quiet guy from Kentucky was in a monthly meeting where the, less than thoughtful, owner of the restaurant was trying to "connect to" [chastise to make herself feel something] her staff. While offering up unsolicited personal history, she opened the floor to questions that everyone with an ounce of self-preservation declined to ask... {Long Pause. The quiet guy looks up. A shout from the back.} "HOW OLD ARE YOU??" Fourteen months later, Jon met me when we both got a job opening a new restaurant; a fish house from the east coast that was supposed to take California by storm, but was bound to cause misery, several law suits... and a love story. It wasn't love at first site. We floated around each other through the first six months of madness, not even knowing each other's names. Eventually I learned his name, and that he took regular 45 minute bathroom breaks to check game scores. The first vivid memory I have of us is walking in on him eating bacon from the bus tub under the grill line. "Jon!" {he jumps back against the soda station} Are you eating from the garbage?!" He mumbled "No", shaking his heading and chewing on the mouthful of dish tub bacon. The first hints of his heart peeked out of his chef coat on Mother's Day when he brought single stem flowers for each of the mothers who sat at his tables. None of us brought anything but disdain for the perilous shift we were about to endure... but he wanted each mom to feel special. And that's what it was. A series of hilarious and endearing interactions while we both fought the hell fire known as 'hospitality'. Twenty-two months later, we started dating. And that's what it's been. A series of hilarious and endearing interactions. Exploring the world together. Learning to understand each other. Supporting each other. Growing together. ... Falling in love was a slow burn. Falling in love is still a slow burn.