That Lived In Feeling

Moving into a new area can be a lot of work. First you have to secure the assignment (Chrysa’s job). Then you have to arrange your travel plans, arrive at the location, move in, familiarize yourself with the area, and in my case – find a job. That last step is key for me. Being the husband of a traveler can be a tricky situation. Sure, I take care of the weird detail stuff like route planning, meal planning, and shopping (amongst other things), but it’s easy to feel extraneous. That’s why I make it a priority to find employment in every town we live in, even if we are only going to be there for a few months. Lucky for me Chrysa lets me pick something neat anytime we move.

It goes without saying that I have had some unique jobs over the last couple years. I’m sure frequent visitors to this blog will recall me working at the video store in Indiana, or the seafood department in New York, but no other job I’ve had holds a candle in the uniqueness category to the one I have now in Florida.

I’m currently working as the cook at the This and That Café in Palatka. The job sounds simple on the surface. Customers come in, they place an order, I cook it, and everyone is happy…repeat. For sure that happens. I sling out breakfast sandwiches, make biscuits and gravy, and create the lunch special. Pretty standard stuff. What isn’t standard is the very intense connection to the town. Palatka is a small place that was crying out for a local joint. It needed a place where people felt like they were getting home cooking with a personal touch. A place where you could be a regular and just chill out for a good portion of the day. My boss, Lou, has really established that atmosphere, and I like to think I have contributed in a positive way.

What I didn’t realize upon taking this job was the variety of duties. Friday is the real oddball day. I usually work at 6:30am till 1:00pm but Friday’s are a little different. I go in at 3. I usually start my day by cleaning up from the morning shift. I follow that up by prepping that night’s special. Then I have to touch base with Steve and get to work on our song set list. Oh…you didn’t know that part of the cook’s duties was being the ice breaker act at karaoke? Neither did I – but it’s a blast! It’s hard to believe I get paid to do something that I would do for fun anyway. So, there I am on Friday nights, belting out Copacabana (we have recently added Ballroom Blitz and a couple others to the list) in between plating ribs or burgers and opening bottles of Bud Light. No doubt this is the weirdest job I’ve had to date, but I like it. I have even been recognized around town a couple times. Kinda Cool!

There has been a slight drawback in having this job. Chrysa and I don’t have as compatible a schedule as we did in Iowa. I am only off one day a week and Chrysa has been working more nights. True to form though, we have made it work. We have managed to do a bit of exploring on our off days together. In fact we recently took a trip to St. Augustine to check out The Ice Plant. It’s a trendy new place inside of a converted ice plant (surprise!). They feature signature cocktails over house made ice as well as really interesting food. We decided to go there on a day when we were both feeling hungry and indecisive. It turned out to be a great time and is definitely a place we will go back to.

We have also taken a day trip to Daytona Beach. We didn’t have a reason to go really. We were just checking it out. We happened to pick a windy, cold, grey day a week or so before the Daytona 500. We had a nice afternoon wondering around, eating at a cool restaurant, and snapping some pics. Overall we weren’t blow away with Daytona. To be honest, it seemed to have a bit of an identity crisis. It doesn’t seem to know if it’s a NASCAR town, a biker town, or a classic Florida beach town. It didn’t really blend all 3 of its aspects seamlessly.

We have also ramped up our training for upcoming races. We recently headed to Ocala National Forest for a training run and a swim in one of Florida’s natural springs. The run was a hot one. Chrysa was of course prepared. She was slathered in sunscreen, wore a water vest, and even wore appropriate shoes. I managed sunscreen…that’s it. Needless to say our dip in the springs at the end of the run felt great.

I have found an added benefit to the non-coordinating schedule. Due to me normally working until 1:00, and Chrysa needing to sleep during the day, I get to the beach regularly. This has been a very mild winter in Florida, and I am taking full advantage of it. I try to pick at least one day a week to head over to St. Augustine beach and catch some rays. I don’t do anything special really. I just load the Jeep, grab a sandwich from work and a book from home, and chill out on the sand. Sure, I managed to do a beach run once, but that’s as productive as I’ve gotten. I mostly veg out, enjoy the sun, and contemplate becoming a full time beach bum. I’m getting to the beach often enough that I’m seriously thinking of taking up surfing. The ocean temp is getting more reasonable and there are rental shops for boards. I figure…why not. I missed my chance in California, but wouldn’t it be great to go back there with some time on a board already under my belt?

So that’s what we’ve been up to lately. We have a nice mix of work, play, and explore going on. Florida is starting to get that nice lived in feeling. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing (probably neither) but as long as I keep getting to the beach, and Chrysa and I keep having fun…I’m not complaining.

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