New Year ~ New Beginnings
A Note from Chef Ouita Michel
I’ve always been an optimist, a “go getter” as my grandmother called me. But the close of 2021 left me wondering if my go-getting optimism had gone.
There were times last year when although I could still smell, I could not FEEL anything. I was numb. Knock on wood, I haven’t contracted Covid but I’ve been spun round and round in its aftermath. The same can be said for my trusty team of valued coworkers. We have all worked hard to make the best decisions possible to come back stronger and better post-pandemic. None of us realized how long this would go on or how hard it could be.
I found my strength in collaboration with the amazing group of young professionals working in our company. Together we persevered. We cooked and we cleaned and we gardened. We rebuilt kitchens and finished projects that had been years in the making.
We wrote new menus, welcomed thousands of guests, visited farms, produced films, published a cookbook. We celebrated marriages and births, and we mourned the passing of dear friends. We waved goodbye to many long-valued team members and embraced new ones who brought new ideas. The changes, challenges, and long hours were intense.
Seeds were planted for new beginnings; for the first time we created a united identity for our group, and a new website and newsletter. We began telling our own story in original ways: a story I hope will inspire and involve everyone in our company. This creative process will unfold and flourish in 2022.
In sometimes painful and always real ways, 2021 woke me up. It poked and prodded me, and put me back at the stoves. It shook me and yelled its lessons of adaptation and living in the moment into my ears. It made me realize that we can’t wait for someday. Today is the day we have, and sometimes it’s all we can comprehend. Turns out my optimism isn’t gone; despite the sometimes overwhelming nature of the news, it’s even fiercer and more persistent than I knew.
Walking out into the cold clear night of Epiphany I can still look around in wonder and amazement and whisper thank you, God ~ thank you for all your many blessings.
© 2022, Holly Hill Inn/Ilex Summit, LLC and its affiliates, All Rights Reserved
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