Good Morning!
Being away from home and out of the restaurant business I knew Christmas would be completely different this year. Living in Key West, Florida tradition is a bit non traditional, most restaurants remaining open for the influx of tourism that all locals have been impatiently waiting for as the months of fall challenged your savings account and your patience. Working on Christmas day might have not been the shift most desired, however, if you did pull the short straw in the scheduling department you were amongst others who had as well, therefore one would not find themselves alone nor missing out on a Christmas Feast.
I had the pleasure of working with a very close knit group of servers and bartenders. The beauty of working in a restaurant on Christmas day is that not only are you surrounded by your best friends but most of them knew how to cook and bake, therefore we created our own tradition of holiday food and cheer. Though dressed in Polo shirts and khaki shorts, eating turkey in between customers, Christmas in Key West still honored tradition while possessing it's own character and perspective of holiday joy and cheer.
Relocating to Austin this year to pursue a life long dream of working in the Fitness Industry, not only did I leave my mother and the place I had called home for almost 15 years, but I also left behind an industry that I had grown accustomed to and became incredibly dependent on for some of the best friendships I have ever had. Hind sight is 20/20 of course, and when in the middle of waiting on tables and working long hours on concrete, pounding the pavement sometimes for little compensation, one could assume that they are unhappy and miserable, being completely unaware of the small blessings that did surround them each and every day.
As the holiday season approached in Austin, Texas and surf shorts, bikinis, and khakis were traded in for Under Armour workout shirts and black spandex, I began to actually miss pounding the pavement and taking orders during the holidays. The one guarantee that remained always as Christmas decorations began to adorn sail boats and palm trees, is that you were not alone. Key West was not only the southern most place in the United States, but it became home for many people whose search for themselves ended just 90 miles away from Cuba.
Austin, Texas is now home, and as Christmas began to make it's presence on the city streets and in the parking lots of the malls, I could not help but to be excited about the fact that the chill in the air and the "closed for Christmas day" store signs began to remind me of a true traditional holiday season. The lighting of the capitol's tree and the celebration of the trail of lights brought me right back to childhood, where December 25th not only meant that Santa would make his way down the chimney but your family would make it's way right into your heart and home. Though Key West always possessed it's own version of holiday cheer, Austin began to feel more like the version I had always loved more. Cool evenings, busy shopping days, holiday parties, family dinners, company secret Santa gift exchanges, and traditional turkey dinners, this is what I had remembered when thinking of Christmas tradition. However, I could not help but miss more and more my friends, my mother, the place I had called home for several years, and the guarantee that I would not be alone on Christmas day.
The beauty of the holidays is that the true spirit of tradition, family, and friendship will reveal itself in good time. Though I began to feel homesick and a bit lonely as December 25th approached, I could not help but notice and be aware of the wonderful blessings that surrounded me.
Each day I have been given the opportunity to actually live my dream. I wake up each morning and get to work in a gym as a personal trainer and instructor, helping others not only change their bodies but change their lives. Each client has become a friend, a partner, and a confidant. And I get to do what I love to do with a staff who themselves are fulfilling their dreams and reaching high to achieve their goals. Austin may not be my actual home and my evenings may not be filled with the many voices of others, however, with each day in a new city and a new work environment, I do not find myself feeling alone. It's been quite the contrary this week. Holiday dinner invites have filled my in box. Christmas cards have been left for me at the front desk of the gym. Someone special has come into my life welcoming me into his family at a time when feeling part of a clan is essential to surviving the possibility of the holiday blues. It definitely has been feeling like Christmas and my heart and belly have been filled with love, cheer, and more food than I ever thought I could consume!!!!!
Key West will always have a very special place in my heart and so will the restaurant business. With each year that I have waited on tables and spent the holidays with others who were far from their home, I learned to value the true meaning of friendship, family, and tradition.
Now living in Austin, my new home, I have been blessed with the opportunity to establish new traditions with new friends and "family," grateful for where I am in life and who I have the pleasure of spending time with. In these pressing economic times and the increasing speed of life it's easy to feel lonely, overwhelmed, stressed, and completely fatigued. It's understandable to feel homesick and wish that you were a kid again so the entire family was together instead of spread across the country during the holidays. However, in keeping up with tradition, what is most important and vital during the holiday season is being grateful for not only the memories of past holiday celebrations, but being appreciative of the new ones to come, for family is made up of those that not only are connected to you by genetic relations, but those who make you feel right at home no matter where you find yourself to be.
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