The Birth of the Lionfish

I am pleased to announce, that on April 5, 2017, the Lionfish Hotel, Bar, and Restaurant, was born.  She was brought into this world with a combination of love, perseverance, and luck- in short, a miracle.   In a strange way, I feel like a father to this new child.

This new child was conceived like any other: a general desire to bring something great into the world; a wild night filled with whisky and tequila; a magical moment of inspiration; and a following-morning feeling of cautious optimism.  Over the next nine months, we made ourselves scarce and concentrated on brewing this wonderful dream.  We consulted friends, we hired professionals, and generally prepared for the beginning of a new chapter in our lives.  Along the way, we named our dream Lionfish.  (We also rejected some other names, such as The Hideout, The Hideaway, Randy's Place, Amy's Place, and Rainbows and Unicorns.)  We also planned Lionfish's future, and our future with Lionfish.

Most importantly, the Lionfish's family grew.  What began as a small group of friends slowly became more friends, family, friends of friends, family of friends, friends of family- you get my drift.  We formed a partnership with wonderful people, and made new friends along the way.  We weathered storms just like family, sometimes arguing, sometimes hugging, but in the end, acknowledging we were in this together, through thick and thin.  By the day of the big closing, Lionfish had many, not merely two, parents.

The birthday of Lionfish was as you would expect- INSANE.  The morning started with cautious optimism.  Quickly, things became precarious, and we ran to the emergency room of our lives- our friends and family.  With the support of the most amazing people I have ever had the privilege of knowing, we made it through the day and ended with the ability to bring this child into existence.  Lionfish now had the greatest group of parents anyone could ask for.

One of my commitments to the Lionfish is to keep this blog and chronicle this amazing experience we have been given.  This is my first blog ever, so I hope this is what a blog is.  I have no idea.  I'm just assuming they are beaming these entries directly to the Smithsonian.

Off we go...

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