The Quiet Woman

I remember my friends Sean and Lynne telling stories about the days and weeks right after they purchased the Quiet Woman restaurant in the early 1990s. The restaurant had been in business for a number of years when they bought it, and while I don’t remember what they paid for it, I do remember that to me, it was a staggering amount of money.

Sean said he rarely slept in those first few days and weeks, constantly waking Lynne to ask her what they had done, how would they make it work, what tragedies were on the road ahead of them. I don’t think Lynne ever said what it was she said when he asked those questions, perhaps all she did was listen and reassure him that they had made the decision they had for a reason, that all indicators pointed in the direction of success, and that she believed they would do well. If they hadn’t, I cannot say what I think would have happened to their marriage, it may be that they would have worked through it and been just fine, or at least made it through.

They never had to cross that bridge however, because the restaurant remained wildly successful, and profitable. I know they were able to remodel their house, then buy a new and better one, buy an airplane, buy a large yacht with which they took, the last I knew, at least two or three years off and sailed around the world. Lynne would fly back from whatever port they were in from time to time as she was needed, but they and their two children have had adventures I can only imagine, and some perhaps I cannot.

This venture we are about to undertake will be a roller coaster for Doug and I. I am an eternal optimist. I wake up every morning excited about the possibilties in the day ahead. Doug is the opposite. He’s a little Charlie Brown-ish. Got some Eyore in him. There is always a little black cloud he can’t seem to wave away. Getting through the worry that every business owner faces will be hard for him. He’s working through it by working on things, which I always find helps. Put one foot in front of the other and forge ahead, and then I always feel better.

I don’t have blinders on, I know how much work this is going to be. And when I say I know, believe me, I know. I have been in business for myself since I was twenty-five years old. I have had to make my own way all those years, rarely with any safety net, and that includes the time since I’ve been married. And in all those years, I have had a business based on service alone, nothing tangible. If my brain wasn’t cooperating, there was no one to fall back on. If I didn’t feel like working and instead wanted to spend my days reading the paper, surfing the web, hanging out, not doing much of anything, I would’ve paid dearly for it.

I haven’t heard from Sean and Lynne this year, I usually get a Christmas card from them. And I haven’t been in their restaurant in more than five years. My restaurant-going ways changed considerably when I became a mother, as do everyone’s. I would imagine the Quiet Woman still enjoys the success it always has, maybe not. There are probably good years and bad, good months and bad, good days and bad. But regardless, I believe it has been mostly good, and they have reaped the rewards of it being so.