The difference is the one thing that grabs our attention. We need contrast in the mass of vibrating static fuzz that seems to be everywhere we look. The more contrast the better. We need a stark difference, represented in pitch black and brilliant white. Without a scalpel sharp edge between the two, everything quickly bleeds together in a gray mass of mess.

A few weeks ago, a reporter from the Ottawa Herald called our restaurant on a Thursday as we opened up. He asked if I had time to talk. He was putting together some stories of local businesses…

Luckily for me, I have already settled into the Contrast of our place. I have already practiced and rehearsed sentence after sentence about it. The contrast, the difference, the un-grayness is all that I wanted to tell him about. I think he may have begun to ask me some standard restaurant questions. The history, our most popular meals, how we got our name, were the things I remember him requesting information on.

The ONLY thing I really wanted to tell him, was about the Contrast.

I knew that I must relay that information above all.

Last weekend, we got the front page. I have heard a lot of feedback from the public. Everyone so far, has said, “Real nice write up in the paper last week”, then they smile 🙂

Honestly, I thought I sounded like a goober. My vocabulary was super casual. I was just talking out my points off the cuff. I wasn’t planning on being directly quoted in this impromptu phone conversation. Anyway, I believe it was the CONTRAST, the difference, that I spoke about, that made any impact at all.

We use locally raised beef and pork. Most places don’t.

There. White and Black.

I wanted to MAKE SURE, that this point was printed, if anything was. And it was…

I want to keep this in mind, as I move forward in my world. The grey is so forgettable. The grey has no authority. It can hold apart nothing. It encompasses almost everything. It’s so blah and bluh and blaaaaaaand.

We need these clear definitions. We are so comfortable and calm, knowing the true darkness from the true light. We are nervous and anxious amidst the fog and confusion of the in-between. When we are everything to everybody, we are nothing to nobody.

Luckily, when the reporter called, I had my answer ready, about our restaurant.

If he had called and asked about me. The core of MY being. I would probably have rambled and stuttered and sputtered shades of grey into the receiver’s microphone. If I was claiming my own truth of blacks and whites, I probably would be claiming charcoal and eggshell at best. At worst, it would be pewter vs. dove grey.

No story to print there.

Not much of one here either.

Just a reminder to myself. Be aware of what I can say, for sure, that shows the contrast. Be aware of it, share it, exercise and paint life with it.

Play in the grey, and watch it all melt into the background. The deluge of the refuse awaits my mediocrity.

Until next week, be well my friends. I could not write this post, until I promised myself not to sleep without saying something. The commitment moment, made this week’s ‘something’ happen.

Sincerely,

Aaron Nichols