Whales. And Monks.
Our Thanksgiving 2k15 ordering system officially closed down just a few hours ago (insert collective sigh of relief here). As Behind-The-Scenes-Tech-Guru Jason continues to work through the numbers, he is continually offering me reports and slices of data that I didn't even know was possible. I don't have any final information to share with you just yet, but when I kept asking him if he felt scared after looking at the final totals, he just looked at me from his laptop and raised one eyebrow. Ok, then.
And all that means is that we've reached my very least favorite part of this process...the waiting. We have all the numbers, but because we won't be able to start baking until VERY VERY EARLY in the morning on Monday, we are just waiting. And plotting. And stewing. And second guessing. And terror sweating. And rethinking ourselves, our existence, our purpose, and our greater plan. (But not our ability to lean toward the dramatic, clearly.)
As we worked on baking for PJP Buttonwood today, we could do nothing but discuss what needed to be done for next week. And as I found my anxiety increasing, I queued up a playlist on Spotify of whales moaning in effort to lower my anxiety. Except as it turns out, moaning whales aren't terribly relaxing at all. And then I switched to a playlist of "Soothing Music of the Monks"...but it turns out that the person who usually does my semi-regular facial must use that playlist, because my Pavlovian response was to want to lay down and have my eyebrows waxed and my skin deeply moisturized. (Note to self: make a "I have to bake thousands of pies in the next seven days playlist and whales aren't helpful" playlist for Spotify.)
As it turns out, we've learned that the best way to lower our anxiety is to cross items off our to-do list. And to that end, we stopped by A1 Rentals and reserved our red velvet ropes for crowd control next week. And then we ordered 700 pounds of pumpkin to be delivered tomorrow. And then we helped the mail carrier bring in 2,000 nine-inch pie boxes from Amazon. And Gunnar was able to climb a ladder and hang our signs to alphabetically divide the crowd for pie pickup. And because our super amazing friends at Johnston Paint & Decorating had already both loaned us a ton of tables for Spare Space AND had their delivery truck bring the tables over and carry them into Space Space...it suddenly has started to feel like a great short-term addition to PJP.
And as I drove home this evening, I realized that seven days from now - just 168 hours - all the hype of Thanksgiving 2k15 will be over. And whatever the eventual experience ends up being, it will just be another part of our story...just a chapter in a much bigger book about #WorldPieDomination. And I finally started to relax just a bit.
Until Behind-The-Scenes-Tech-Guru Jason suggested I not print any reports until I was really ready because I would need hundreds of pages of paper loaded into the printer.
Gah.