I have learned a lot about taking chances lately. I'm not talking about in life necessarily, but in cooking, career and ok, life. We take chances everyday. We take a chance just getting up in the morning and going to work. Life is a game of chance. There is a chance it may rain today. There is a chance I may win the lotto. We hold on to that word chance. Chance to me is as good as the word hope. There is hope and chance in everything we do, in every day we live. I'm also a little apprehensive of taking a chance yet if you know me you know that I'm super ambitious and driven. Some decisions need to exercise caution. In other situations you do not have that luxury. You see in the restaurant business we get paid to make quick precise decisions on the spot right there and then. We are gun slingers. We more then often shoot from the hip. We make decisions on the fly and think about them later. If we remember them later that is. The formula for a restaurant shift is preparation meeting opportunities that help you make decisions that will avoid you from taking a chance on something you wouldn't want to be faced with. These days I am faced with a pretty big decision. No, I do not mean making a decision between a grape tomato or a Roma tomato, but a decision that not only effects me, but will effect several people and a community. This is one decision that I cannot shoot from my hip. It has been 6 months of contemplating, stressing, praying and planning and soon I will make this decision and with this decision I can never look back and ask "what if?' It's kind of like making a soup and adding spices, you can always add more but once the flavors are in there you can never take them out.
I had a close friend take a chance. He always made decisions and never looked back. All though they we not always the best decisions, he made them and lived with no regrets. He was such a free spirit.
I'm not sure yet what I will do. That still remains to be seen. In this business you don't always get a chance to enjoy the more fun things that are out there. We literally work while everyone else plays. I'm not complaining. This is what I signed up for 18 years ago. There has to be sacrifices that are made in running a restaurant. That's just how it goes. I do know one thing however.
I'm ready to give life a chance.
