Another New Beginning

Hans and I, along with my parents and my nephew RoV, dropped off the keys/fobs/laundry card at the management office today. We moved into the building on November 1, 2022, under not so happy circumstances. It was a challenging time for Hans then! It took him a while to warm up to our apartment and consider it his home. In all honesty and fairness, it took me a while as well. And even towards the end, I continued to complain about the laundry situation.

Yet, I got emotional as I handed the stuff back to the same lady who welcomed me with a warm hug 3 years and 9 months ago. I realized that I was going to miss the home I built together with Hans. That was the place that made us who we are today - strong, independent and happy. I became a contract teacher while I was there, and I was also able to submit a resignation and pursue jobs closer to our new home. And Hans got through high school and got accepted at a university in a program of his choice. We did not simply survive … we lived!

As we start a new chapter in our lives, I just wanted to take a moment and bid a fond farewell to our home that was.

Pepper

My birthday is in 3 days (more on that in another post if I am inspired at some point) and I decided to get out, hop on a bus, and order food for dinner on the 13^th, from one of my favourite restaurants - Pepper - its real name.

Almost 2 years ago, when I started working at my former school, I realized soon enough that the bus ride home was tedious. So, apart from playing Candy Crush and writing *pointless* posts some days, I started making a list of all the restaurants I saw on my way home. I decided to get off the bus on Fridays at different restaurants and get some take-out and try different cuisines. Pepper was perhaps one of the first I tried. I found the food tasty and reasonably priced, and Hans did not complain. That was a bonus.

When I went back a second time, the man behind the counter remembered to double bag my order because he remembered that I take the bus and I had requested for it the last time I was there. I immediately complimented him on his customer service. We started talking and I found out that he was one of the three owners of Pepper. Since then, I also did dine-in with Lady A, Manda, Neil, IB and others, and got to know another one of the owners as well.

A couple of times I let the 2 owners know that I love their restaurant so much that I would be happy to invest in a 2^nd restaurant with them and the third owner (whom I saw briefly just once). Still, I believed in the three of them. Pepper became the restaurant that I got the most take-out from in the last 20-odd months.

Today, when I got there, the third and lesser-known owner greeted me. I asked him about the other 2 and he said they should be back in about 20 minutes and I could wait for them. I was okay to wait as I wanted to say a goodbye as I am in the process of moving both home and work to a neighbourhood that is nowhere near Pepper. As I waited, it felt like an opportunity to get to know the third owner better. I shared with him how Pepper opened on my 50^th birthday and how I ordered food for my 51^st birthday from Pepper and how I would like to commemorate their anniversary as I celebrate getting older each year!

As I chatted away, one of the other 2 owners came back. I reminded him about me wanting to invest in the next restaurant they open and expressed my sorrow about not being able to see them all as much as I did in the past. He asked me where I was moving and in the most wonderful coincidence, he shared that they are opening their 2^nd restaurant in the neighbourhood I was moving into! And it is scheduled to open on the 13^th.

I have said several times since January that 2026 is my year. And at no time did I believe that as much as I did when I heard about the next location of Pepper being within walking distance to my next home!