God, it was a lot of fun. I look at these people, and I just loved coming to work every day. I used to on Monday mornings wake up and say, TGIM, because it was so much fun to come into work. We were all friends. We partied all the time outside of the co-op. We would always meet up in town, go to different people's houses. We were small, and it was intimate enough that you could be friends with all your coworkers.

I will say that the co-op helped me to raise my kids because it was so very good at being understanding and flexible about my needs. I could just say, I have to leave. I have a sick kid, regardless of what position I was in. If I had a need of any kind. Back in 2012, I got sick and I needed kidney transplant. I couldn't work in the deli anymore. I couldn't stand.

But instead of leaving me go, they found work for me up in the office. Anything that they could find, spreadsheets, whatever. Those were the folks who held my baby showers. They were the folks who held my wedding shower. I went into labor in produce in the co-op with my second child. Those are the people that picked up my mother at the airport when she was coming from Virginia to take care of my older daughter.

I got that kind of support from the co-op all the time. I was out of work for six months.

Everybody shared their paid time off. And during that whole time that I was out, I only missed one or two paychecks. Everybody was there for me. And everybody was that way with each other. And we also treated our customers as part of our family, too. And there have just been countless times where I've seen people pull together to help a staff member who's struggling with something or, you know, we care about each other there, which is really lovely.

You know, we've shared everything. You know, we shared, you know, death and divorce and childbirth and relationship breakups and kids being sick. And so we could come to work. It wasn't just a co-op for food. It really was a co-op for family.

It is so much more than the store, and that's a really good way to put it. It is like a part of life, I would say. I mean, what can you say?

You go in and it's like a family. You know, people do come and go, but a lot of times they come back, and it's just a real family feel to the store. We really support each other, and, you know, we try to do the best job that we can for the community.

No one's going to get rich working at a co-op. No one. Not even the highest positions. It's not going to happen. But it wasn't about the money for folks. You could tell it. It's a community place. It feels like home. It feels like this is my place. This is where I belong. And I hope that 50 years from now, that's where it'll be as well, no matter how big it is.