Gratitude

Hmmmmm
Let's see. Today we have phone calls out to acquire a License to Operate from the State Board of Health, Sales and Use Tax Registration and Meals and Use Tax License from the Vermont Department of Taxes. I don't know what any of that means. All I know is that I need those rectangle pieces of papers in a frame on the wall and that once those rectangle pieces of paper are in my name, I will have to pay them alot of money on a monthly basis else they put my feet in concrete and drop me in the Lamoille River.

I've put calls in to the health inspector, the contact guy from Burlington Food Service, the contact guy from Capital Grounds in Montpelier where we buy our coffee and the folks at Vermont Tea Traders where we buy our tea.

I've met with the friend who is going to do our baking and I even have her on board to make some flour-less mocha tortes and macaroons so there'll be some wheat-free goodies for me to snack on occasionally!

..........................For the past three years, working in Stowe, I was constantly trying to think of where I could work in Johnson so that I could be closer to home and be more a part of my own community. When I finished my opening shift this afternoon and after I met with Megan, the new baker, I walked across the street to the health food store to pick up a Kombucha and some strawberries. Lunch.

On my way back, in the mellow rain, hollering over to friends driving by in cars and passing Bill's crew in the old Beard's building, I realized that I'm here now. This is what I've been looking for for three years. I can walk out the door of where I work and still be among my familiars, go to the bank, the health food store, the library, book store, yarn store....

In the hustle of getting all this legal and finalized, it's nice to stop and take stock.