Pizza and Movies

When my kids were home we usually had pizza on Thursday nights. Now there had been a pizza shop in my small town when we moved in but they had closed. A couple of others had half heartedly tried to run one. Eventually they gave up and shut the doors. So now having pizza included driving into a near by town to pick it up. After a bit I had an Ah Ha moment. I would open a small pizza shop here in Hooterville. I did all the things you must do. I found out how much the equipment costs would be. I found a tiny room in a building for rent. I went to the bank for a loan. Talked to the bank president, don’t you just love a small town? He assured me that I would have no problems borrowing the money. I made an appointment, took my loan application forms and went home to fill them out. I showed up for my appointment all papers in hand, I sat down and he asked me, “Where is your husband? Doesn’t he approve of this?” I replied that I wanted to do this on my own and he said sorry you husband must co-sign your loan. I was shocked! I told him I thought I had made it plain that I was doing this. But he would not budge. I made the call and my husband came down and, with a smirk, co-signed for me. Something he loved to throw in my face. I did all the work, I arranged for the utilities to be turned on, the equipment delivered and for the supplier to come and show me how to make a pizza. I had flyers printed, menus printed, cleaned and soon I was ready for business. I planned my opening to be the same weekend as the local festival. I was so nervous and I did so well! I made over $200.00 that opening night. At first I was open till midnight and after I had been there for some time I moved my closing time up. I kept adjusting my hours till I got them where they needed to be. After a few months, I got a VCR for the boys. Now this was a big deal. Who would have ever thought you could record TV and watch movies when ever you wanted to. Well, again to rent movies, I would have to drive to neighboring towns to a rental store. So I had another Ah Ha moment. I found out how I could buy the movies wholesale and rent them myself. I can’t believe how dumb I was. I went to Indianapolis with a handful of cash and got around 35 movies. FYI at that time they were about $60.00 each. I put up some shelves and figured out a system and soon I was also in the movie rental business. I worked hard and paid off my loan. Soon I out grew my little space and moved my businesses across the street, to a much larger building. Along the way I had people working for me. I always enjoyed working, talking to people and it was funny when a family first ordered they would get a small pizza, as their family grew the pizza size grew. Then, as the kids left home, the pizza would grow smaller. I can to this day tell you exactly what pizza most folks in this town would order. I loved my job. I did it for over 20 years. Then I got sick. I thought I could shake it. I could not. When I finally went to the ER. I was in bad shape. Near death they said. I had cracked ribs from coughing; they said it was Asthmatic Bronchitis. When all was said and done, I ended up on oxygen and will for the rest of my days. I wish I had gone sooner but I did not. No do overs in this life. Right Bob G? Life was pretty tough for me till my Social Security Disability came through. I went from having a very good income to low income in the blink of an eye. Since I did not have insurance I made payments on my hospital bill and it took me a couple years to pay it off but pay it off I did. I was so sick that I chose to just close down my business and not try to sell it. I sold some videos and most of the equipment and I ended up with a room full of videos. ( Which I ended up selling on ebay, but that's another story.) There is not a day that goes by that I don’t wish I had taken better care of myself. There is not a day goes by that I don’t miss working. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t miss interacting with people. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t appreciate what I have. Because, you see, I know just how quickly you can lose it.