Unconventional.

I didn’t really intend to go a week without a blog post, but trust me when I say these past seven days have felt like 77 years. I said to Jason earlier that I’m certain I aged by 10 years today alone. Woof.

There’s no good way to start this first paragraph about our week, but we are all a family here. Here’s what we need to discuss: Jeanne’s husband passed away early this morning. Dale had been under hospice care at home for the last month. (Many of you noticed her absence from PJP as she became his full-time caregiver with the assistance of visits from a local hospice agency.) Ultimately, he passed from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) at 74 years old. He passed away peacefully and at home, and really those were his only wishes.

Of course, everyone wants to know how Jeanne is and what they can do for her. I would say that all things considered, she is doing well. Thankfully, we live across the road from each other and so I was able to be there just as soon as she called me. Of course, she was mentally prepared for this, but that certainly doesn’t make it any easier. I just felt heartbroken for her this morning, but we are all thankful that she was able to be by his side as he passed.

And since there isn’t a single conventional thing about Jeanne, she requests no calls or food or flowers or any of the conventional things we do to support those mourning the loss of someone. She joked this afternoon that everyone could come buy a pie this week, primarily so I can stop worrying that no one will show up to our new store because I’m annoying her with my obsessing. And because Dale was an equally unconventional person, he wished to be cremated and have no service. (In one of our earliest years at PJP Buttonwood, Dale bought Jeanne the floor scraper that we still use on a daily basis at PJP Nifong for her Christmas gift. So, as unconventional to the norm as they both were, they were a perfect pair.)

The next obvious question is WHAT ABOUT THE NEW STORE? We are on schedule for an official open on Wednesday. Jeanne wants to stay busy and is thankful for the distraction. We have a very final health inspection at 9 am tomorrow and then we have a full crew of Team PJP bakers scheduled to do a test run baking schedule. If it all goes well, we are going to put out our OPEN sign at 10 am and just see how our day goes. Blog readers and casual passerby people will be the only ones to know they can visit the store (assuming health inspection is good). We will run with the official Wednesday, February 9th open for the social media world - and for all the local media outlets covering the big day. I’ve tried to think of every single thing we will need tomorrow, but I’m certain I’ve forgotten something. Jason is starting the morning at West End and I’m starting the morning at Nifong. Then Jeanne thinks she would like to come to Nifong and I’ll go to West End and see how it is going. I think I’m going to need a roadmap for the next few weeks as we try to find a routine. (A lot of people have asked where I’ll be most of the time and the answer is: everywhere. The goal is for Jason and I to rotate stores and Jeanne do whatever she wants, because she’s Jeanne.)

So that’s the news. We will take all your good thoughts, and especially prayers or good affirmations or whatever you believe in for Jeanne over these coming weeks. And if you see her at one of our stores and you see her fussing or cleaning or latticing pie, know she’s doing pretty well.