The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
....
The ending to the third week was unexpected. This morning I was at the bakery a bit late, a little after six. I knew that we would not sell a lot of bread, but because I had two bread orders, on top of the croissant order, I needed to do some work. So, I made some integral bread, and I made some pan payes, which as I have mentioned before, this particular recipe is a combination of rye and white flour. As a side note, I brought one home and they taste amazing, absolutely amazing. I always love a little bit of rye flour in my breads, but this is 70% rye and just amazing.
As the day was progressing, we only had a couple of customers, it was looking to be the worst day to date, for sure. I was starting to feel a bit depressed and wondering if it will ever get better, not just today, but as a whole. I often find myself questioning this decision, but I suppose that is ok to do as it keeps me in check. And, I do not give up.
At 10:45 I said to Sandra we should just play cards. No one is here, and I doubt anyone is coming. Then her friends walked in, those who ordered the croissants, and two special breads. They are very generous and really have been so supportive of us, it really means a lot to me. Then another familiar face came in, and then two more groups came in and then another. Soon, the room was full. Then, one of the visitors, whom has been endlessly kind and supportive, called her friend and said come over and have some croissants. And they did come.. Actually, we met him before and it was because of him that the other person spoke to the mayor on our behalf about getting those tables on the plaza... and we discovered we have the same birth date.. that was awesome.
All in all, in the end, we sold all of the croissants, I think maybe 20 (which included the order), we sold the empanadas I made this morning (which tasted amazing this time), and we sold almost all of the cookies. Officially we are open 9-1 on Sunday, but our first customer came in around 8:15 and the last people left around 1:30.. and we made more money than we did on Saturday and Wednesday combined. To be clear, we are not breaking any records, but we certainly had a great day. Our one display case was completely empty..
It is these little things that give me hope that it is going to get better and better and we will make it as long as we work hard, stay focused, and most importantly, remember my mantra which is "the customer is king/queen" .. and we will not be static and change where its necessary to make sure we are reaching the majority of our customers needs. I think it is essential to being successful. For instance, I was making sandwich rolls but no one was buying them, so I stopped. Many wanted Pan Payas, so now I make it. Along with gluten free bread (as we chatted about before).
I am also happy to report, I have more croissants for tomorrow ready to be baked so I was able to take all of this afternoon off. That is an amazing gift.
Finally, it is amazing to me the emotional roller coaster this business is. I really did not expect this in any way. One minute its empty the next we are looking for extra chairs. One minute we are selling breads faster than I can bake them and the next we are taking some home. It is quite unpredictable, but I suppose in time, the diverged paths of my life has taken me down the one which is much less traveled by, and yes, it is making all the difference. ❤️❤️
PS - we thought it would be funny to protest we have the best croissants in Mallorca.. true or not true.. its funny.. so we put it on the sign.. what is funnier, Sandra drew an arrow pointing to a location in the opposite direction... a customer had a good laugh about this and then so did we.. 😂
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