Growing pains…

Growing pains…we’ve all had them whether we remember them or not. When you woke up with a sore leg or back, your parents told you it was growing pains, then sent us outside to play. 

As kids, we experienced physical and emotional growing pains. I was an emotional kid and remembered crying when I said goodbye to a teacher at the end of the school year because it was time for me to move up a grade or change schools.

I remember when my boys Noah and Sam were young, they had growing pains even though I’m not sure they remember having them either. 

They both entered high school as two of the shortest boys in their classes. They both grew 12 inches during one school year. They literally would come home from school tired, eat a bunch of food and go to bed. They would honestly wake up noticeably taller the next morning.

Growing pains as adults are emotional from growth and changes in our lives; the psychical pain, well that becomes part of a day-to-day thing the older you get. Throwing your back out while sneezing or trying to put on your socks are just two examples.🤦🏻‍♀️

We’ve already gone through growing pains with our business, The Vermont Spätzle Company, and we are experiencing them again right now. We were presented with a fantastic opportunity to grow our wholesale business which has always been our objective.

We enjoy doing farmers’ markets, talking to people about our product, handing out samples, giving suggestions or recipes, demonstrate how to cook the spätzle, and have loads of fun. A couple of years ago, we had to make the tough decision to discontinue our Sunday farmers market in Schenectady, NY. While it was a fantastic and fun market, we knew that working seven days a week wasn’t realistic or sustainable.

I actually cried when we sent them an email explaining why we couldn’t do the market anymore. I felt horrible, but this was a business decision that had to be made by us, the owners.

This week we were faced with the same dilemma. Our divide and conquer theory on Saturdays, splitting up and doing two markets, is no longer an option at this time. 

Yesterday we notified Emily, the Saratoga Farmers Market market administrator, that we were taking a leave of absence for the summer and fall market. 

This decision again weighs heavy on me. I really like everyone from vendors, market workers, and customers. I am going to miss some of my customers like Richard, who I wrote about last month. I keep tabs on some of my customers and worry about them, hoping they are ok when I haven’t seen them for a while. 

Yes, I had a lot of fun with my fellow Saratoga vendors and loved trying their different products, but I am not there to have fun; this is a business decision. Plain and simple.

I will be working at the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market with Marty on Saturdays. As the market season picks up each week and when we can get back to sampling our spatzle, it will be busy. Before the pandemic, we were in the position that we almost needed to start thinking about getting Marty a helper. It makes sense for us to be a two-person team again at Troy like in Schenectady.

As our boys were growing up, graduating from high school, and leaving for college, I had growing pains. Every time I thought about them graduating and leaving, I would get sappy. When they would come home to visit, I would get sappy again. Before I knew it, they were men!

Now, our son Noah lives on his own here in Arlington and works as a Volkswagen & Audi technician. He’s a polite, hard-working guy, has lots of friends all over the country, and is fun to be around. The pandemic has been hard on him because he is such a social person, adventurous, and loves to travel. Noah works hard and plays hard. We are so proud of his work ethic and the man he has become.

Sam, our youngest, will graduate from nursing school next month. He will be an RN at 20 years old. He will have another year of college to finish up his bachelor’s in nursing online. He runs on two rescue squads and has seen and done more medical things people twice his age haven’t done. He has brought people back to life literally with his squad partner, and yesterday, he accomplished one thing Marty has never done while on the rescue squad for 20 years…he delivered a baby yesterday morning. Ironically he’s been studying maternity all semester; he should get an automatic A. Lol.

“Without pain, there can be no growth.” I read an article in The Ledger and this quote from Berney Wilkinson, the correspondent, hit the nail right on the head. Growth and change are good but painful and uncomfortable while you are going through it. I am sorry to say goodbye to my Saratoga customers and friends, but Marty and I are looking forward to the next chapter of our business. I am also looking forward to meeting and getting to know his customers in Troy. 🙂