End of a Legacy / My Father’s Story III: Love in Greece

In case you’ve been wondering, rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. (Pretty sure I stole that line from somewhere . . .) But annnyway, I am still around and kicking, though it’s been forever since my last update.

The year 2023, for me at least, has been crazier than 2020. My eldest daughter ran off to college to study art at the University of Central Florida, about a three-hour drive from us; my father passed away in March, and as a consequence, I finally sold my business — the restaurant that has plagued my life since before I was born. If I ever update my life story, I’ll have to include that bit.

I’ve wrestled with this decision for decades, but ultimately, I knew I could never achieve my literary dreams without giving up my day job. My last day at work, the end of July, was bittersweet, strolling around the shop snapping photos, the ovens where I’d cooked about a thousand pizzas, the phones by the register where angry Karens made my blood boil, the little dusty office where I used to hide from the stress and anxiety and often contemplated suicide.

What kept me a prisoner in Pizza Hell for thirty-five long years, aside from financial considerations, was my father’s legacy. Country Pizza Inn was his baby, his pride, what he and my mother slaved over their entire lives to achieve. And here I was, ready to tear down the franchise they’d built. (Technically, the restaurant is still open and is being run by new operators, but still…) If there had been any other way, of course, I would have taken it. But nobody in my family is able or willing. I am the baby in the family, at forty-eight, and my siblings are nearing retirement age, so it was up to me to keep the place going. For my mental health, I decided I couldn’t do it any longer.

At least my father wasn’t around to watch his legacy collapse. Despite the way it turned out, I believe Arthur Alimonos lived a life of consequence and meaning, and in some small way, I am happy to devote what skills I have to preserving his memory, if only in a blog few people will ever read and a podcast hardly anyone listens to.