Clayton Blackstock, who was a major cheerleader in all of this, nominated us for an award from Preserve Arkansas. The category was “Excellence in Personal Projects, Commercial” which was their way of saying, a commercial grade historic project with very very interactive owners.
Not even sure owner is the right term here, but basically, because Zac and I did so much gothic work ourselves, we got a special category. Versus writing a big fat check to a capable contractor, who might have done an amazing job, but was all in the course of a days work. I mean, it isn’t nothing to write big fat checks for historical renovations, especially when the whole town thinks your off your rocker. Well, try becoming the self contractor. People think your really nuts then.
The banquet was the first time I had been away from the restaurant on a busy Saturday night, but we just had to do it. We got a hotel room. My mom drove in from Florida, Zac’s parents drove in from North Carolina. Bob and Karen came, the kids dressed up. And then we put pictures on the table of those who would have been so proud. Zac’s maternal grandparents who were responsible for us being able to pay off the building back in 2008, Zac’s paternal grandparents who also offered a lot of support, my Dad, who would have been over the moon proud of us, and Clayton’s parents, who also would have gotten a kick out of all this, and whose tools and generational wealth allowed us have a little wiggle room.
The banquet was great. It was just a rush. It was the moment we’d all been waiting for. It was in the Albert Pike Memorial Temple, which is a beautiful historic building in downtown Little Rock. We all dressed up, and walked down to the event. It was just nice to have it all laid out, to dress up, and to spend one last evening before our current lifestyle change became the norm.
The icing on the cake was waking up the next morning, realizing I was sick. Like, sick. This was the beginning of the flu for Cheryl, and I was out for days. Good thing I didn’t know that then!
