Another Pryor Milestone

I've mentioned many times in the last two years how each of my family members is dealing with Cody's loss in their own, individual ways. Grieving is different for everyone. Troy and I lost a child. Nathan and Lindsay lost their sibling. Cody was also a grandson, a nephew, an uncle, a cousin and a friend to people I am still meeting 2 years after his death.

My surviving children have displayed varying degrees of grief and it is unique and different from the other even though the commonality is loss of their sibling. Their best friend. Their "let's do something sneaky behind mom & dad's back" partner in crime. But they have one thing in common in moving forward:  CAP's Pizza & Tap House.

We started this venture in a small way before Cody died. I've told that story before, but he and Nathan wanted to do something together and Nathan suggested a pizza joint. The rest of that story is floating around, but the bottom line is we decided to continue this pursuit without the 5th member of our family. Nathan dove in head first with the kind of gusto and determination that both made me proud and worried me at the same time. This grief was pretty fresh for all of us and I wanted to make sure he was dealing with it and not avoiding it by filling his life with the stressful job of opening a business. Not just a business. A restaurant.

Have I ever told you how stressful owning a restaurant is? No? Well, consider yourself informed.

Nathan did much of the leg work associated with the business side of things. He and his friends gutted and remodeled the inside of the restaurant and I nit picked over details associated with paint color and decor. We had issues with our business license and I thought Nathan would have a stroke as we almost didn't pass the final health inspection due to the placement of our huge pizza oven. We fought and argued and disagreed about many things leading up to our opening.

But we made it.

 My children are only in their 20's and a venture like this is huge, even for a seasoned business owner. Each of them has their own strengths they bring to the business. And it challenges them both equally on the parts of the job that is difficult for their personality type. But their focus and their goal is always the same: we are doing this for Cody.  And we continue to fight and argue and disagree about many things.

Like when/where to open a second location.

But my stubborn, driven, tenacious middle child went forth to conquer regardless of how uncomfortable I was with it. He had another reason to pursue this expansion.

Carly Ann Pryor

Best reason ever. I'm sure Cody approved from wherever he was looking down on us.

And so with all the tenacity of opening that first location, the hard work, long hours and sheer determination to prove to me it was possible, Nathan and his business partner Tyler opened up CAP's Pizza & Tap House in Stockton. Their grand opening was yesterday and it was a great success. And while it struck me in the gut that we were still a "-1" for this celebration, I found it fitting to take the picture where we did.

l to r: Troy, Cheri, Lindsay, Carly, Nathan and Carla

I'm so proud of my children and all they put in to this business. Their time, their love, their dedication. It does not go unnoticed.

Congratulations, Nathan! I know your brother would be proud.

(aka "the mom")