Snow. As far and wide as your eye can see. Some places still as high as your hip thanks to the wind. Small patches of brown grass peek out from the low spots. Then I see it... Meat.
What kind of meat? That's prime rib. The same left-over prime rib that we tossed in the trash late last night on New Years Eve. We saw our friend Mr. Raccoon hanging around the loading dock then but we were all too tired to worry about him. It's now around 9am New Years Day and I'm here for the breakfast.
I see half-eaten pieces of prime rib all around the dumpster. The garbage bags are ripped into. They are on top of the full dumpster and sitting on the mountain of snow that surrounds them. The meat stands out against the still white snow.
Apparently Mr. Raccoon was hungry last night. He needed to feed his family.
We we're all here partying, dancing and drinking while Mr. Raccoon was trying to do what comes natural for him. Feeding his family.
He didn't care about getting drunk. He didn't care about dancing to the latest Lady Gaga song. He didn't care if 2 of my waiters came in late or that the kitchen cooked the wrong veggie for the fish course. He didn't care that my housemen were here all night trying to get the balloons off the ceiling. He didn't care that Housekeeping needed to clean up vomit from 11 rooms today. He didn't care that I was asked to help with doing food inventory today either.
All he cared about is feeding his brood of little raccoons.
That's ok little buddy. I'll clean-up your mess. You take care today. You take care everyday. You don't bother anyone. Your mask hides nothing more than your good intentions.
That's my New Years Eve 2010-2011 memory. Not the drunks. Not the loud noise or that I've been up for what seems like 2 weeks straight. It's Mr. Raccoon.
I hope 2011 is good for him...and all of you too!
