I’ve been meaning to write this down for a while. The words are too important for me to just knock out and be done with. This one comes right from my bones.
If you’ve been reading me for a while, you might remember my old site (still open but essentially inactive). The week I turned 30 I wrote something because it felt like a momentous occasion, especially to a 12 year old in a grown man’s body. I talked about bartending, and how i was determined to become a positive worker - to shed the feeling that a chip on the shoulder was essential costume for the job. (You can read the full entry here.) Something else i swore to myself was that I would be making half my income from writing by the time I turned 35.
Before I checked out Ireland, I had a drink or two with some work folk after the shift. Tyson, a fellow bartender, was leaving town soon and I wanted to hang with him before Life got in the way. I had no idea that he was going to say some of the nicest things about me. Work is fun, I know I’m gonna have a good time when I see Aaron is working with me, he’s a good banter, and he makes me want to be better at what I do.
I was floored.
Through no intention of my own, I had influenced my friend to the point that he had shifted his perspective on the career we shared.
We all talk about how our actions shape the world around us, and this was the first time it had come back to me.
As it always happens when I’m complimented, I became very modest and said thank you. My very bedrock of who I am had moved though.
I guess this is just a recollection that - even though I’m not getting cheques in the mail anymore, I don’t consider myself a failure. If one person has been affected like that through my actions, maybe I don’t have to stop getting people drunk. For now.