I didn’t understand what was happening in my mom or what I was watching happen around me. She had just been “my mom” my entire life, and now I was sharing her with something that only existed in her heart and mind.

As we settled into our new home, she began to think about the various spaces (of course) and how best to fill them. If it were not for the vision she had carried for 25 yrs, we wouldn’t have moved into a 6700 sf home with 12 acres. My mom always says she’d be just as content in a 1-bedroom apartment.With all the new space we'd acquired, it took a while to fill. While we worked on decorating and furnishing, my mom would discuss a plethora of other details with me. I now understand there were so many business requirements and hurdles to cross; some before the purchase, some after. For instance, she was smart enough to make certain that we were granted the permission to do business BEFORE we did things like decide on a name, a logo, find a web designer, create policies, hire staff etc.

When she started building a parking lot for 105 cars, it hit me that this was really happening. Then we formed sidewalks. Then came the large concrete pad on the back lawn for a tent. Then came the equipment such as tables and chairs.

A little over a year later, we hosted the first event. Everything had been smooth for me--albeit dizzying--right up until our first clients arrived that day. Then, all of a sudden it became real that strangers would be in our house--strangers who needed herding. And on top of the smack of realization of what “hospitality” work actually looked like, it became clear to me that I would be helping take care of the inside--cleaning the whole house, AND the outside--weeding all the flower beds across all 12 acres. A glaze of contempt fell over me from there.

My attitude was clearly less than positive, and giving out to others (i.e. "hospitality") was totally lost on me.  My lack of character, immaturity, and disregard for the vision turned a great day into an awful day every time. It shouldn’t have surprised me that my mom fired me three times in the first couple of years after we began business. I sucked at my new job.