It’s been a year since I touched down in Houston and I didn’t know how it would go when I decided I was headed to Steamboat Bills Pearland around this time in 2025.
Here we are a year later Reviewed top 3 seafood restaurant on Google.
If I told you it was easy I’d be lying. I’ve been lonely and worked anyways. I’ve had the flu and worked anyways. I wanted to quit and worked anyways.
I’ve taken those willing to fight with me and we built something. I’ve pulled the best out of them. They forced me higher.
What do you do when you’re unwilling to give up? “You went out there a hero!”, my mom told me today. What do heroes do? They fight. They work. They figure it out.
I did all of that. It’s been a tough year for me. People think these sorts of journeys are filled with glory and they don’t realize the sacrifice, the pain, the loneliness that accompanies glory.
I left a really good life when I took on the task of turning a failing business around in Pearland, TX.
After a year I’ve debated selling and coming home, marrying the rich guy who would let me give it all up to accompany him at parties, or simply letting all go and figuring it out after it’s all said and done. Or I can keep building in the loneliness, wait on God. It’s been on my mind a lot lately. “What to do?”
The leadership required to double sales in 12 months is beyond comprehension.
“Who do I have to become to maintain this growth?”, I ask myself daily. How do I develop my staff into the people I need to make this place the biggest Steamboat Bills we will know in 2027?
I’m still seeking the answers.
Last night I made it back to Lake Charles for a much needed mental break. I need to be here. This morning my 15 year old daughter accompanied me to Lafayettes fresh market to get my mother her groceries. Hannah decided she wanted to drive the hour trip to the area I lived when she was in my womb. As soon as she took the ambassador exit she road a curb to the point where my tire couldn’t be saved and my rim barely survived.
“What the fuck!”, I said as she continued to hit the curb until she found a parking lot to pull over in. “You’re actually pretty patient”, she said as I told her “it happens” when we finally stopped.
I got the donut down and went to unlock the lug nuts when I realized I didn’t have the strength. “You’re a strong independent woman!”, Hannah said.
“God send me a man!”, I said out loud. “A good one!”, Hannah chimed in when she realized I was at my stopping point. “I don’t want to get kidnapped.”, she continued.
I then went to call roadside assistance only to find out my policy number isn’t connected to my account which is something I need to fix on a Monday.
As a last resort I called the police to come and help when a man pulled in, “y’all need some help?”
“Yes!”, i said without hesitation. He then pulled out a big ass Jack and quickly put me on a donut.
“Wow! That worked!”, Hannah said about my prayer as I called the police back to let them know not to worry.
“Of course”, I replied.
And after we shopped and loaded my vehicle up with a months worth of groceries for my mom, we headed back to Lake Charles.
An hour on the road had my teenager thinking. “How do we know the Bible stories are real?”, she asked.
“They are still being written.”, I responded. “We just lived through one. I asked and it was answered.”
“Yea!”, she said as she thought about how quickly my prayer was answered.
I wasn’t surprised or even shocked that a capable man pulled into the desolate parking lot to help us when I asked God for help.
I guess you just get used to it when you trust.
After a a life lived in surrender followed by a year in a big city, when failure was inevitable and somehow you gain top 3 notoriety, you just accept God is in control even when your kid with a learners permit loses control.
My hands are just up in the air at this point like “God have your way.”
I don’t know what I need. I don’t know what I’ll be. I don’t know where I’m going. “God have your way!”
At the end of the day I called my soul sister and we made plans to see a band at a local bar.
She grew up with the musician center stage, a childhood best friend. It seemed only fitting to support him.
We came and we danced as my teenager babysat her baby.
As I danced, I dropped back into the appreciation I have for my home town. Lake Charles is the vibe. It is my heart. It’s where I come and go to release, be and explore my heart.
I don’t matter here. I am no one special but special because we all are. I’m just the girl you went to high school with. I’m the chick who paints or the one who owns the Poboy shop downtown. I’m the one who helps when help is needed. But I’m just like everyone else in a small town.
God I miss this place. Somehow after all this time I find myself inspired to write on a random Saturday night.
Houston, Pearland just doesn’t know this hometown hero the way Lake Charles does… but I’m here for the journey. I’m here to share the love, the energy and the good vibes I’ve inherited from this small town at the bottom of Louisiana.
And what felt like a simple trip back home turned into a soul journey I needed to remind me that God is in control.
Put this 70 something year old on a shirt for me.
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