Coming Full Circle - 15 Years of Dining and the Arts

Fifteen years ago, while I was commuting to NYC and being a mother to 9-month-old twins, my husband spent our "quiet time" searching realtor.com. He found some houses for sale in a quaint little town that we had driven through many times on the trip from my parents' to our house. It was easy for him to ask my parents to stop by one of the listings on their way home from helping us with their grand-twins. My mom told us that the neighborhood was nice and had a lot of swing sets - good news for young parents.

Though we weren't necessarily looking to move anytime in the next few years, we visited the houses and fell in love with the house on the street in the town. Long story short - we bought, we moved, we started our TwinLife in the town where we would raise our children.

As with any family that moves to a new town, and especially with a dual-working TwinFamily, we quickly scoped out the local restaurants. Redwoods was a nice, family restaurant that welcomed our twin-babies, and they had the added bonus of having outside seating in the warmer weather when we moved, where we felt comfortable if one or the other of our twinbabes started to throw a tantrum. The restaurant soon became a fixture in our family, and our kids grew up participating in (and winning) the coloring contest, where their art would be showcased on the vestibule wall and awarded with a free dinner. When our family realized we needed to go gluten-free, Redwoods was there with its GF menu. We even ordered Thanksgiving dinner from them one year when I just couldn't cook it myself! In short, my kids have grown up with Redwoods, and the fact they have the best drink ever (Lavender Martini) and burger (Sierra), neither of which might be on the printed menu on any given day but will always show up on our table when we order them, keeps us coming back. Plus, my daughter and I have made a habit of visiting when we need a GF sweet treat. Creme brûlée has become our thing - and we have Redwoods to thank for that. 

My daughter has entered my TwinMom reflection on how Redwoods became part of our family, and she is actually the reason why I started writing. As a child, she was the first to ask for crayons and coloring at Redwoods, and to try, valiantly, to get her art selected to post on the wall. Today, she is the first to say, "I want creme brûlée!" And it was her vote for dinner that sent us to Redwoods one night a few months ago, changing our relationship with the restaurant. 

As we walked into the vestibule that Saturday evening, I heard the live music performers say, "We will be taking a break, but will be back in 15 minutes." I jokingly turned to her and said, "Hey, you could fill in for them while they are on break!" Like any good teenager, she rolled her eyes at me.

But... the house manager who was sitting at the hostess desk said, "I am always looking for new artists!" My daughter and I were both caught off-guard, and being the cool and collected mom, I ignored her teenage, overly large eye-roll and side-mouth "MOM!!! [insert, don't embarrass me, unsaid emoji], and responded to the manager, "Do you every consider teenagers?" My daughter huffed right past me, following the hostess to our table, while I chatted up the manager.  

"I consider anyone who can sing and play," she responded. 

"Good to know," I said, and rushed after the rest of my family to have dinner.

As we waited for our creme brûlée (because literally, my daughter and I rarely go to the restaurant together without sharing one), I scurried off to the bathroom, and like any good mom-manager-in-the-making, I snuck into the bar area to see how the performers were set up and whether it would be appropriate for my 15-year-old to play there. Feeling good about the logistics, I circled around to the hostess-stand to get the manager's info for my daughter to contact her about a possible gig. I gave her a website and Spotify link to preview, and said she could reach out if she was serious about having Megan Pepper play.

Not too long after that, while I enjoyed my dessert (have I mentioned the creme brûlée?) the manager came to our table and told my kid that she wanted her to play... at Redwoods... for a live gig. We left that night in a kind of "did this really happen?" haze.

Since that date, Megan Pepper has performed two happy hours and is now scheduling a full 3-hour set on a weekend night this summer.

As I've watched my daughter play at our local restaurant, I am just as proud as I was to see her artwork on the wall (yes, she won) all those years ago. In fact, it's a special kind of pride because it's representative of a full-circle life in a small town. My young, crayon artist, who had her first meal at Redwoods when she was one-year old, has come full circle. 

Redwoods celebrated their 27th anniversary with Megan Pepper kicking off happy hour. I cannot wait to see where both the restaurant and my brave, talented kiddo end up in 5, 10, or more years of celebration!