I never really took what the boss and chef said seriously, the whole �what a
beautiful family� catch-phrase. I never really felt that close with anyone at work;
until just the other day. It was a typical Thursday morning, though just a tad bit
earlier than usual. Up at 5:30 and into the kitchen by 6:15. It was raining, but that
didn�t deter our work. We carried on, covering our supplies with tablecloths,
driving through a light mist of rain to get to our destination. Set up was as usual,
quick and swift, and then came the standing and waiting for the players to come
in.

The we consists of five of us total, a short but strong half Irish and half Japanese
guy, the tiny but feisty Spanish speaking Chinese girl, the tall and lanky engineer,
the girl with the large, happy personality with a love for football, and plain old me.
We had been working the shift every Thursday morning for just about eight weeks
now. But only now did I realize just how they made a normally dreadful shift a
much better affair.

The realization hit me slowly, as the girl with the large, happy personality just was
not her usual self that day. As the shift wore on, she told us her story. Of how she
loved a man, but alas, he did not, and just mere weeks after seeing her last, told
her he had a girlfriend. She deleted him from her life. No more texts, no more
numbers, nothing left. You could tell she hurt, not just from her words, but from
her eyes and her actions. There wasn�t that normal happiness in her eyes, the
joyfulness that used to be there. All I could do was encourage her, tell her things
would be okay, and simply offer her a smile of my own.

I thought back on this as the day went on and realized that they had done the
same for me many weeks back. I had not said anything at that time, simply
brushing it off as sleepiness. But they were able to make me smile, make me feel
better, and most of all, make me feel like family.

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