01/28/2024
When our kids Sage and Riley were just tiny ginger snaps toddling along on family hikes, we started telling them to “stick the landing” after they took a tumble. It began as a panicked parent strategy to keep a scraped knee from descending into a full-blown Gaelic meltdown. (Have you ever seen a 25-lb redhead in the throes of a serious tantrum? It is to be avoided.) “Stick the landing,” we’d say with an encouraging smile, and their little round freckled faces would shift from distress to mischief as they struck a triumphant (and often silly) pose.
Sticking the landing soon became shorthand in our family for finishing well, even if the task was daunting or failure was a foregone conclusion. Forget your line on stage? Stumble in front of your friends? Make an embarrassing mistake at work? Stick the landing. It’s about owning your mistakes, accepting your own fallibility, and making the best of tough situations.
It’s also about not just quitting but choosing to finish strong, no matter what happened along the way. Those who were alive during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta probably remember American gymnast Kerri Strug sticking the landing on a badly injured ankle just after a disastrous failure on the world stage. She could have quit. The world would have understood, but she didn’t. When she landed on her uninjured foot and raised her hands in triumph, she was in tremendous pain, but she finished strong. When she stuck that famous landing, she also delivered gold for her team.
In many ways, The Square restaurant has been a decade-long family hike for us. We’ve summited many magnificent peaks, we’ve tumbled down many rocky ravines, and we’ve put our heads down to push through many turbulent storms. Along the way, the size of our family has grown by hundreds. Every business measures their success in profit, but for us, The Square’s greater measure of success has been in relationships. Over the years, we have cultivated relationships with vendors, culinary industry colleagues, fellow local business owners, dozens of employees, and hundreds of patrons.
There have been many times that we wanted to quit. We have experienced failures that were downright traumatic. We have had nights so dead that we lost money just turning on our ovens. We’ve weathered literal hurricanes that brought our ceiling tiles crashing down on us. We suffered with everyone through Covid and watched many of our colleagues close up shop. We even had a bar fight or two.
What kept us pushing forward was always you. You, our hardworking suppliers who became partners in our success. You, our fellow local business owners with whom we shared our frustrations and celebrations. You, our culinary colleagues who truly understand what it means to be in a service industry. You, our truly remarkable Square Crew who have worked tirelessly to take care of one another and our patrons. And most importantly, you, our patrons and especially our regulars who have become our family. We showed up every night for you.
This month, we wanted to finish strong. All of January’s special events and featured dishes were designed to celebrate and thank you for your support. We intended to spend the month thanking you, but we were absolutely unprepared for the gratitude that we received from you! We have been overwhelmed by stories of your special moments spent here. Flirty first dates, romantic engagements, weddings, celebratory showers, holiday gatherings, recruitment dinners, standing date nights, and teary late nights with friends… we are honored that you chose to spend those moments with us. We’ve lost track of the number of hugs and toasts and bittersweet goodbyes we have received this month. We are so humbled. Thank YOU for every time you showed up for US this month. Together, we stuck the landing.
-Sarge & Carrie
