I live 45 minutes from work.

In the morning, excuse me, afternoon, when I drive to work I listen to the radio. Coast 93.1. Current pop music. Gay funny morning host. When I leave for work, the 90’s at noon segment is playing. PS. Adele’s new song is pretty awesome.

On my drive home at night I like to talk to my friends who stay up late or live on the west coast. It’s a chance to catch up, share our lives etc.

Tonight I called my friend Donna, because I wanted to hear about her recent trip to Paris. I love Paris and wanted to share stories.

However, Donna was more interested in my new job and my Facebook posts. As we chatted I was trying to explain why I started writing.

This was the conclusion I came to.

The first few were to share the ridiculousness of crazy people. But it’s evolved into so much more. (I just typed involved into). It’s late. I’m tired.

It’s evolved into so much more.

I love my job.

But it’s very different than my other management jobs. We aren’t open for lunch so I don’t go in early. It also means that I work all the night shifts. I was used to my schedule being spread between lunches and dinners. Now my schedule is essentially 1:30 to 10:00 or 12:00 depending on the night.

This isn’t bad. I am a night person by nature. I’ve always stayed up late. I hate mornings. My alarm goes off at 11:30 these days.

The one thing that is not fun is that Adam and I don’t see each other a lot. I’m off Mondays and Tuesdays. He’s off Tuesdays and Wednesdays. When I leave for work on Wednesday I really won’t see him again until Monday night. He’s gone when I get up. He’s in bed when I get home. We’ve always had different schedules but it’s really different now.

Adam and I also have the same jobs. We are each other’s advocate. We are each other’s champion. When he comes home after a difficult service I get it. When I come home with a situation with an employee he gets it. He coaches me on being more gentle. I helped coach him through his first firing.

Point is, we need each other to do our jobs. To celebrate the good. To get through the bad.

But I don’t have that now. We talk for about 30 seconds each day. When we can. But that’s how he knows that I need him to pick up the prescription for the cat and he reminds me to leave a check on the door for oil delivery. We only get to talk work for about six minutes all week.

This has been a long way of saying that you’ve all become my Adam. The person I can vent to. Can you really believe he wanted me to comp his steak after eating it all? Can you believe the audacity of the woman who yelled because she reserved a table outside?

I also celebrate my wins with you. Record nights. Grateful guests. Wonderful employees.

So by default you’ve become my mid week boyfriend. And I appreciate all of you. You remind me to be kind to myself. To take deep breaths. To do the right thing. You remind me to own my mistakes. To be proud of my restaurant. To be the best manager I can be.

So thank you for your support.

Encouragement.

Kindness.

Love.