Monday, August 12, 2013

Picture this….I went looking for Love in Tenneesee…and I found it!!

What are the three things love needs to grow? For me (could be different for you), I think these three are faith, consistency and a desire to do onto/for your partner better than you do for yourself.
Now a lot of people claims to want love and some lucky people even claim to (or actually might) have it but I wanted to look at love not the typical way but rather love in action and found it in all places, in the home of love songs and broken hearts, the heart of Country Music town.

Ruby Falls is a 145-foot high underground waterfall located within Lookout Mountain. In 1905 the natural entrance to Lookout Mountain Cave was closed during the construction of a railway tunnel. In the 1920s a cave enthusiast named Leo Lambert thought that he could re-open the cave as a tourist attraction, and formed a company to do so. He planned to make an opening further up the mountain than the original opening and transport tourists to the cave via an elevator. For this purpose, his company purchased land on the side of Lookout Mountain above Lookout Mountain Cave and in 1928 began to drill through the limestone. In doing so, they discovered a small passageway about 18 inches high and four feet wide. Exploring this opening, Lambert discovered the formerly hidden Ruby Falls Cave and its waterfall.On his next trip to visit the cave, Lambert took his wife Ruby, and told her that he would name the falls after her.
That is the part I love. He took his wife and named it after her. Here is a man who as all the literature around the place suggests was a cave enthusiast, who could selfishly have named the cave after himself and it would have not changed a thing chose to name it after his wife and not even his wife’s full name “Ruby Lambert” Fall but simply Ruby. Love Lesson number 1: You can be dedicated to someone more than you are to yourself and want more/better for the other.
Ruby falls is beautiful, it is amazing, it is nature showing us that yes it knows how to do beauty better than we humans could ever dream of. I looked at Ruby and thought (ok Lambert could have done better). He was cute she definitely in my opinion was not. However, Lambert saw all the beauty at the place and thought about his wife. Love Lesson number 2: It does not matter how others see you (physically or socially) when the right person sees you the right way then in the end isn’t that all that should matter?
Ruby Falls is an amazing testament to and for love and I loved the fact that there were various people from all walks of the earth gathered there to enjoy what Lambert (and his Ruby) had given to the world to enjoy.

So we woke up the next morning and being the true foodies we are decided to find a nice brunch spot to fuel up. The Garden Brunch was our first pick as it was close by and had good reviews. We got there around 11 and already the place was packed with a wait time of about 30 minutes. Usually we bail at this and find a new spot to eat at, this time, however, God was on our side and we decided to wait it out.
As we were waiting we noticed that everyone who walked out had a smile on their face. (That should have been our first sign) but we just thought oh well Southern hospitality and kept it moving on our cellphones.
Now let me set the scene for you. The Garden Brunch Café is a small establishment, probably a two bedroom house that was converted into a café. I believe it seated about 30 people max….15 or so seated and the others standing, basically it is not a big industrialized restaurant/café. It had the homey you are special feel. It was beautifully decorated with inspirational art all over the walls and FRESH FLOWERS on the tables. No I am not a “Flower” girl but fresh flowers in a home definitely give the home a little something I think.
Ok so enough about the décor. Let’s move on to the food and shut it down. The food was AMAZING!!! This has to be hands down the best brunch I have ever had in America. What was so awesome about it was that it was just my experience that was good but everyone on my table. Now the reason why everyone was walking out with a smile was making sense. The pancakes were to die for, the drinks were good not too strong, not too sweet not too …it was Perfect!!
Ok so I am sure you are thinking good for me I had awesome food and what has that got to do with Love. Well the Brunch Café is a family owned business Karl and Jennifer Carpenter opened the restaurant in 2009. We were served by their son who informed us that his sister, brother-in-law and cousins all work there as well. (We were seated by his father and his mother is the head chef).
Love lesson 3: With support you can accomplish your vision. This family had found something and they were all working to make it work (you know what I mean). Too often families start projects and no one believes in it enough to dedicate the necessary resources (time, money, etc,) to let the project work. Then when it fails they want to turn around and call you a failure for having the guts to start something new. Just looking at the number of people who came in before us, were there during our stay and were waiting outside to get in, our server will make a lot of money in tips, money which he could use for his college fund if he so chooses.
Again like Ruby and Lambert, I love the fact that this is a husband and wife working together to make it work. I am sure they could have hired a manager and continued working at their respective jobs and not taken a risk with this establishment. Love lesson 4: Time together is time well spent.
I do not know the family, they could hate themselves, they could hate their restaurant etc. etc. but that was definitely not the vibe one felt in the café. The food was half the battle but the ambiance won the war for us. There was mutual respect, there was attention, there was caring (and this was just for the guests)…You must visit the Garden Brunch Café.

Final Love lesson: Just as I took this trip to experience love from another perspective, we have to appreciate the fact that Love is always in action. As dynamic evolving human beings love cannot remain static for us. We continually have to evolve to support the things we love about love and revise the things we do not love so much. Next time you want to experience love, instead of looking for it, try to do love and heck if it fails  try looking for it in Tennessee, after all it’s the only Ten I see in these parts …

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