LookItsAmy

K is an unbelievable romantic. Not demanding and jealous. Not a drama queen. Just romantic and very, very, very sweet.

I guess this is a good place to point out that I knew, that morning, very little about K’s realm and all that it entails. I had no idea how things are interconnected, and how the key ingredient to the whole thing is a series of interpersonal relationships. I had no idea how many different businesses K is involved in, and I didn’t have any idea how much he knows about all of them. My aim in writing about these experiences is to try to capture not just the amazement, but the underlying facts that awe and inspire me. The relationships, the interdependence, and what K mockingly calls the “synergistic convergence” are worhty of my study.

. . . . . .

We walked into the busy, bustling little restaurant and every single employee in the place beamed when they saw K. That was a heart stopping thing. Who does this? Who is so liked by people at a job that they are all genuinely pleased to see him? I now know that the place we stopped to visit was a small family owned diner owned and operated by Martha and Starr, a mother and daughter who’ve been in the restaurant business forever. Starr lives with Timbo, who manages a bar, and helps out with running the restaurant, which has twelve employees. Starr and Martha both gave K huge hugs and wet kisses. RayGun and Bumps get hugs too. Martha hugged me, despite us being complete strangers. After K and Ray greeted all the employees and half the customers, we all settled in at a corner booth. K demonstrated his unique style of introducing people with a brief summary that also serves to bring everyone up to speed on key issues he plans to discuss, at the same time it sets the table for proposals he plans to offer up.

Martha and Starr and Timbo were all at crossroads. Martha is 60 and has mentally decided to retire from working every day. She is convinced that her life’s work is over, and ready to leave without any money, beyond her savings and social security. Starr is very good at running the diner and actually wants to expand. The obstacles to that expansion include no room to grow at their current location, and a ten year lease which is due to expire. The current landlord has declared his intention to demolish the building and replace it with something newer. Timbo has been running a bar for two men who are increasingly becoming less interested in the business they own, both preferring to persue varous vices instead of focusing on their business. K tells all of us at the table that he has set up this breakfast meeting to see if we can’t all find a solution that works for everyone.

There is plenty of tasty food, and a lot of laughs. But also a good bit of trepidation, as few are clear on K’s ideas. He set the table by telling us, mostly me, I guess, about how wonderful and honest and hard working and smart the other three people are. K goes to church with the three of them and they are all friends. He mentioned that they Starr had asked him to pray that the Lord would help them find a solution that everyone would like. K said, “I am not God, and I can’t pretend that I was inspired by Him. I am not really sure where I got this idea, but I want to put it out there.”

He asked them if they would be interested in a proposal where he becomes an investor in a restaurant with Starr and Timbo. They will buy out Martha’s share, giving her a very nice nest egg for retirement. K’s group will infuse cash that will finance both a lump sum and continuing stream of payments to Martha. K will also finance a number of improvements, and even expansion of the business. He mentioned one possibility is for his group to purchase the building the restaurant is in. They all seemed please with this plan. Then he raised the bar. He outlined a much grander vision that incorporated elements from talks he has had with Starr and Timbo about their “ideal” jobs. K proposes to sell the existing restaurant (the name and equipment) and relocate it to the mall. He wants to open a new, much larger restaurant in a different part of town. It will be custom built to house not only Starr’s ideal restaurant, but also her catering kitchen and medium-sized bakery. The kicker is the plan for Timbo. K wants to build a bar, that will be owned by K’s group and Timbo. It will share a kitchen with Starr’s place. The two places will be right next door to each other.

Everyone was sold on the idea right away. The smiles on their faces resemble kids on Christmas morning. K told them to think it over. All three of them said they don’t need to. Martha cried. K let Bumpy spell out the plan that involves Martha getting some tax free cash, shares in the holding company (which will give her a continued flow of cash), and free health care benefits for the rest of her life. Tears streamed down her face as she explained that she had no decent retirement plan, only some savings. She hadn’t set aside monies for health care and life insurance in her golden years. Timbo and Starr were so excited, they asked when they could see the location. K invited them to come right then, but they eventually decided to meet up in the afternoon. As the three studs and I walked across the parking lot to the bus, I told K that I was amazed by what had just happened. Raygun said, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” K threw back his head, shifted to his best Al Pacino and said, “I’m just gettin’ started!”

Turns out, he was right.

He took me to the movies this weekend. It was beyond awesome as a date. I felt like I was IN a movie. We ran into a woman he knows, who was with her son. He was so interested in talking to the kid and treating them, that he mistakenly got us the wrong tickets. Sort of. We wound up wondering around the inside of the building, looking at posters of upcoming movies while holding hands and laughing. We sneaked into the projection room like daredevil adolsescents. Then, we sat in the cinema for nearly an hour, giggling and talking. We saw “The Holiday.” I could never have picked a better date movie. Some of the themes parallel our lives, in some cases to a scary degree. He has been walking around all weekend saying, “I have a cow, and I sew. Now how’s that for hard to relate to?” My cheeks hurt from lauging and smiling so much.