I present to you...

...my husband.

Let's start back a bit. When O and I first met, he was running the business his dad had taken over ~30 years prior. It was a manufacturing and distributing company of industrial abrasives (you aren't the only one thinking "huh?"). It became clear over the first 2-3 years of our relationship that Omar was going to be around a lot longer than that business. The looming question, however, was what was Omar going to do when bandsaw blades and grinding wheels just didn't pay the bills.

This was a source of some real stress. Omar had never had a boss other than his dad (unless you count his days as a waiter at the Lincoln Dells), he had started his MBA but didn't really see a future in joining some other business or being a consultant.

Of course, anyone reading this blog knows how that story turned out. But let us recall some of the steps....

He went to brewing school. He changed the law of Brooklyn Center which explicitly banned breweries when we first toyed with the idea. Then there was the self-demo of the building which included a little carbon monoxide poisoning and a punctured water line (whose turn-off valve was buried 6 feet under the landscaping in front of the building). There was the actual brewery (you know all the big metal tanks, kettles, fementers) bought second hand from the Dominican Republic, a portion of which turned out the be the equivalent of a very heavy paperweights. These also arrived the same week as another "arrival," Calvin and Spencer. And who can forget the bartender who, after proclaiming his favorite beer was Bud Light, spit the beer out when Omar first hit the streets to sell his wares.

There were industry folks who told him he would just go the way of the many failed breweries that had proceeded him. There were people who told him the only way to succeed was to be a distributor, not a producer. And of course, there was that spitting guy.

So why am I telling you all of this?

Because yesterday, Omar was named a regional finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award! He and I will attend a black tie gala in June to hear the announcement of who is the winner for the Midwest. Spit on that!

I am so proud of my hubby. Way to go babe! You have worked so hard and deserve this so much. I love you.