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After graduation I moved out to our ranch in Big Horn to work. I "tried" attending some classes at the college but as many of you remember, school was not my greatest strength at the time. I worked at Kings making ropes, and also went to Alaska to work in the seafood industry. Yes I ended up working on a crab boat and can testify that the 'Deadliest Catch' is maybe an understatement. After returning home I was persuaded by my dad to attend college so I enrolled at the U and started my degree in Broadcasting. Don't know why I picked that I just thought it sounded fun I guess.
I eventually did graduate believe it or not and moved to Seattle to break into the radio business. Well that didn't really pan out and I ended up working for Nordstrom's and went with the company to open the first east coast store in Tysons Corner, Virginia. Which was cool because my dad was living only a few miles away from there. I ended up staying with Nordstroms for about 5 years and worked my up the corporate latter until one day I realized how much I hated the corporate thing, and that the stress and tension in my neck shouldn't start while I am in the shower getting READY for work. At least it should be no sooner than lunch time! The only thing that could make it go away was a sack of groceries, a bottle of wine, some Ray Charles and my greatest passion...cooking. My friends always told me that I should get into the restaurant business by that seemed somehow out of reach.
Then one day at one of the many corporate motivational seminars I was to attend, the subject was "If you love what you do for a living, you will never work another day in your life". I said well then to hell with this (I'm sure not their original intent), quit and moved to Portland to attend culinary school.
Upon completion I moved back to Seattle and started cooking in the best restaurants in the city for as long as they would have me. Then one day, while attending a Mariner baseball game, my sister calls me and says that she saw a little restaurant for sale in Sheridan while she was visiting my brother Paul and that I should check it out. Absurd I thought, there is no way I am moving back to Sheridan, at least not for many more years. But fall is beautiful here and I had a lot of vacation time built up so I said what the hell. Three months later I had a contract on CIAO Bistro on main street and I was driving through a December blizzard on my way home (you all remember Main Street don't you...perhaps you drove up and down it once or twice).
Well after 5 years in a run down old building that once was a barbershop next door to what once was the Mission bar, and was way to small to make much of a living in I decided to make the big move and went across the street and opened a 4800 sq ft restaurant and bar in what I remembered as the Brown Drug Store where I left letters for santa in a letter box by the third beam to the back and the soda fountain on the right. I renamed the restaurant Oliver's Bar & Grill, which is actually my first name but also the names of my great grandfather and grandfather whom the true namesake is in honor of. That was 2001 and were still here and rockin it out. Some of you came by during the reunion and it was great to have you here. I hope any of you who see this and are in town come in to say hello and be my guest in the bar for a drink or whatever, and if you live here make sure you tell my staff your here because it was a long time ago and I am kinda fuzzy on remembering faces.
Lastly, and certainly most importantly, I did finally marry in 2001 to Kathryn Flitner of Shell, Wy and in december of 2002 I had my first child, a daughter named Fiona, who is the now 6. And then last April, Kate and I traveled all the way to Hanoi, Vietnam to get our beautiful daughter Lila from an orphanage in a town called Lang Son, Vietnam. She is amazing and an absolute joy. Fiona is the champion of big sisters and amazes me because she had this all thrust upon her so fast and yet she has coped so well... she makes me proud.
Thanks everyone who has made it this far in what turned out to be so much longer than I intended. God Bless and I hope to get back in touch.
