I lost an old friend this week, some of you may have heard me talk about Brittany. I met Brittany when she was 14 and I was 15. It’s amazing that ten years have gone by since we’ve worked together and with each passing day, my memory starts to fade in that time of my life. But isn’t it amazing that when you really work your mind, those memories start creeping back?

As you’ve probably read in one of my older posts, Donatos was my first "real" job (you can read that post here). For some reason, I had my heart set on working at Target across the street. But Tonya, the assistant manager at Donatos, had something about her that just made me want to work at Donatos.

I have a firm belief that God works in all things. Perhaps He had a reason for me to work at Donatos and not Target. The crazy thing is that in each stage of my life, there have been people in my life who have made a significant difference and were always there when I needed them. I am so thankful that God brought me to that first job, we were family, and I LOVED it.

I told Brittany’s mom, Kathy, that I had some fun memories of Brittany and I, but that biggest thing that stood out was how well she loved me. Since Brittany and I were the youngest on the crew, we almost always worked together. Sometimes we would both work the front counter together, sometimes she’d work the front while I worked the drive-thru, other times we would clean the dining room together, or just hang out in the party room folding pizza boxes.

Some of my most favorite memories are the times when it was slow and we’d go out back, she’d smoke a cigarette and we would just sit there and talk. It was like a family affair at Donatos because Brittany, her mom, brother, and sister-in-law all worked there and they made me feel like I was part of the family.

I remember the early morning staff meetings where we’d meet in the party room, watch training videos, and Britt would sit on my lap as we’d watch them. I remember the slow times where we would talk about anything and everything while cleaning the dining room. I remember how excited she’d get about her little niece. I remember how much she hated anchovies, and after making a pizza with anchovies, I’d wipe the slime off on her shirt (yes, I was such a gentleman back then). I remember working on Christmas Eve and I brought in my CD player and she’d sing along. I’d remember us running over to Wendy’s to do a food-swap with the employees and bringing back our dinner and sitting back in the prep room with the staff hanging out. I remember the times we had to come in early and remove the conveyor belt from the oven and clean it. I remember the times she’d have me grab something from the walk-in refrigerator and lock me in.

But the biggest memory of my time at Donatos came at a painful time in my life. It was a beautiful day, I even think it was the last day of school. My mom had picked me up from school and as we sat at the stoplight in front of North Central she said, "Kiel, I’m moving to Florida." Okay…. "When?" I asked. "Tomorrow."

I tried to stay strong for my mom, but as soon as we got home, I walked on the Monon Trail straight to Donatos. I walked in the front door, through the kitchen, out the back door and just started crying my eyes out. I walked back in, found Brittany’s mom, Kathy, and just started crying in her arms. Brittany was there to console me too.

That summer was one of difficulty, but one where I felt loved. I didn’t know it at the time, but I had developed an anxiety/panic attack disorder. There would be moments when I’d feel a rush fly over my body and I’d feel the need to go throw-up in the bathroom. I had originally thought it was an allergic reaction to the ingredients and I decided that it was time for me to move on from Donatos.

After moving across the street to Marsh, I slowly began to lose touch with Brittany and Kathy. They’d occasionally come by the store to shop and I’d occasionally go to Donatos to see them. But you know how life is, we drifted apart. At first I wouldn’t see them for weeks, then months, and then years… ten years in fact.

Over the past few years I had been trying to reconnect with Brittany, looking for her on MySpace and Facebook. She never really was into those type of things, but I had a hope that someday she might want to reconnect with old friends and create a profile.

About a week-and-a-half ago I finally found her on MySpace. She hadn’t logged on in a while, but I thought if I sent her a message through the system, that they would notify her through e-mail. I thought to myself, "Hey God, maybe this is a great chance to reconnect and be a part of each other’s lives again!"

But I was disheartened on Wednesday when I logged into MySpace to see that she still hadn’t read my message. I had moved on to my other tasks of the day and eventually made my way to the obituaries on The Indianapolis Star web site. As my eyes scrolled through the names, one stood out… it was hers.

I was in disbelief, shock. I read through the obituary time and again, but there was her mother’s name, and her brother’s name. My friend, who I really wanted to see, had passed away that Sunday.

It was a little difficult for me to walk into the funeral home and see her mom, who had been like a mother to me when I worked at Donatos. But when our eyes met, we immediately recognized each other and I embraced her in an all-familiar hug. It turns out that all these years that we’ve been apart, we’ve been wondering about each other. Brittany had been wondering what I had been up to, as did Kathy. Even in the hustle and bustle of the past 10 years, I had still wondered about them.

I’m going to miss my friend Brittany and I continue to pray for her mother, Kathy. As I sat through the funeral they read 1 Corinthians 13. One word that stuck out to me during the whole funeral was the word "love." Brittany had shown me love, Kathy had shown me love, and I hope that my presence there let Kathy know that I love her very much. She has a special place in my heart.

I say all that to say this, never stop loving people. I know I talked a little bit about myself in this post, but that’s because in the midst of what I was going through, Brittany and her mother were loving me through it all. If you’re a Christian, you are commanded to love others, even more so than you are to love yourself. If you’re not a Christian, loving someone could make a tremendous impact on someone else’s life. They may not remember a whole lot about you in the years that pass, but they will remember how well you loved.

So with that, I am so thankful for the love that Brittany has shown me and I hope that Kathy knows that I will be there when she needs me… just like she was there when I needed her. I thank God for allowing Brittany to be a part of my life.

So I’m sitting at Starbucks (which used to be a First Indiana Bank) and looking across the street at my first real job, Donatos. You may think, a pizza place, what’s so special about that? But I’m beginning to realize how much I miss the places I’ve been in my life and the people I’ve been so grateful to have had in my life.

I started working at Donatos in 1998. I hadn’t anticipated working there, it was a toss-up between Donatos and Target… Donatos is the one that gave me the opportunity. I have so many fond memories of that place and I can only hope my words can do justice to those memories.

I can’t remember everyone I worked with, but I can remember some. Most specifically, I remember working with Brittany. She was the person closest in age to me. In fact, we were both 14-15, so we stuck together. It was so fun! We both worked in the dining room in front, answered phones in the back, answered phones, folded pizza boxes, cleaned the front… I could go on and on. Brittany and I got along great and I enjoyed working with her so much!

The best part of working there was the family atmosphere and it wasn’t hard for us, mostly because Brittany’s mom, her brother, and his girlfriend all worked there. Brittany’s mom, Kathy, is someone I will be eternally grateful. She treated me like her own, we got along so great, and she was the first one to be there for me when I found out my mom was moving to Florida. I remember the day that my Mom told me she was moving to Florida and Kathy was the first person I went to. I walked back into the kitchen, and just gave her a big hug and started sobbing. And she was there for me every step of the way.

We had a great crew… I even remember working with Ben, a guy who was 40 or so, he was a special needs guy. If you’ve ever worked in the restaurant industry or retail… chances are you’ve run into them. While they’re typically “stable,” they still need occasional attention and usually live with their aging parents. Ben was one of those guys. He had a good heart and was always trying to show me how to do things, even though I already knew what I was doing, but I went ahead and played along.

As I think about Donatos, I think about Larry. Larry was a big guy with a big heart… I guess you could think of him as an uncle… just one of those great guys. I don’t remember much about Larry, but remember him just being a great guy… he eventually had to leave due to health problems.

It seems like I’m blabbering on as I just let all these memories out… and they’re memories that are special to me and may not have any significance to anyone else. But here are some of my special Donatos memories:

Working on Christmas Eve
I remember we were open for Christmas Eve and we expected it to be slow. I brought in my DiscMan and some speakers and played Christmas music. It was me, Brittany, Kathy, Jason, and Tonya working. I didn’t mind working Christmas Eve because I loved these people. It wasn’t really busy, but we just had a good time hanging out. I remember helping Tonya close the store (which was really cool because I was 15 and usually wasn’t around/allowed to help close). We locked up and Tonya drove me home.

Snow Days
Back in those days, I didn’t think it was possible for us to be closed. I had a paper route growing up, so regardless of the weather, I always had to work. There were a few times that I would trudge through plenty of snow, only to make it to the store and find out that we decided to close. I would usually shovel the sidewalks and straighten up the dining room and go home. Snow days were fun for another reason, it’s usually crazy. The truth is, people don’t like to drive in the snow, so all the delivery drivers would call off work and the managers and district managers would go out in their trucks to make deliveries.

It Was a Place Where Management Were Friends With the Crew
I don’t remember every manager and assistant manager I worked with. I remember Larry, Brent, Kathy, Emily, Matt, Steve. But the one person that stuck out to me was Todd Young… he was our district manager. With this place being my first job, I didn’t realize how lucky I was to work with him. In the coming years, I would work at Marsh where having a good district manager who rolled up his sleeves to help would be nowhere in sight. Todd was always in a great mood, always spending time on the make table with the crew (not in the manager’s office with the store manager), he always made us feel valued. So Todd, if you come across this some day, know that you’re totally awesome.

Those Summer Nights
I didn’t have much of a social life back then, so I didn’t mind working afternoon/evening shifts during the spring and summer. My favorite memories, as sad as it sounds, is just propping the drive-thru window open and letting the cool breeze hit me as I was proofing the dough and saucing the pizzas. I also enjoyed the slow times when people would go outside for a smoke, I didn’t smoke myself, but it was just nice to chill outside and take a break.

Man! I have so many memories of that place… maybe I’ll have to make this post a two-parter. I know that once I start reminiscing about Marsh, I’ll have to divide it up into several posts, since I worked there for over eight years. Anyway, that’s all I have for now. I miss working at Donatos and miss the people I worked with, you all were truly awesome.