Late on a Tuesday night, I watched almost 10 years of my life go up in smoke and flames. I had been a waitress at Marco’s Restaurant.

As my co-workers showed up at the scene a few at a time, my biggest concern was for Duane Arnold and Steve Taylor, the owners.

I had seen them put their life’s blood and sweat into that business, all their hopes and dreams, and now, before my very eyes, it was turning into dust and smoke.

How sad, how tragic, how unbelievable.

I watched until the wee hours of the morning as the firefighters calmed the fire, and then I went home and cried myself to sleep. The next day I went on the job hunt and was lucky enough to find a job that would pay my mortgage. I had just bought a house the week before.

A very kind man by the name of Don Bouchard gave me a way out of this mess, and he did it knowing full-well that I would be going back to Marco’s when it was rebuilt.

I want to thank him publicly. I was one of the lucky ones. There are still many of the Marco’s family who have not found jobs and must rely on unemployment to squeak by, and it is a squeak.

I miss my co-workers. I miss walking into the kitchen and saying “hi” to all my friends at the restaurant. I miss the smell of Marco’s. I miss the feeling of home I had there. I miss the customers and my life. I miss my very safe and comfortable life that I had because I knew I could count on Duane and Steve. They have come to my rescue many a time. They simply are two of the best people to work for.

I could go on and on but I want to get to my point.

So many people have come into the Irving on Minot Avenue because they know I am working there. They come to see how I am, to ask after Steve, Duane and everyone that worked at Marco’s. They show kindness and concern, not to find out if we will rebuild, but to offer comfort and tell me to give Duane and Steve their best. They put us in their thoughts, hearts and prayers.

How many people can say that their customers seek them out to see how they are and how their bosses are? Not many.

We were not just a business, we were a place that people came to have the Marco’s crew wait on them, talk to them and share our lives with them and theirs with us. It was a family of many – owners, staff and customers.

I want to thank all of you for all your concern and kindness and I want to let you know we are OK, we hopefully will rebuild, and we will be back. Don’t count us out. The building may have gone up in smoke, but we did not. Marco’s was not a building; it was a family.

Stephanie Lambert lives in Auburn. Marco’s Restaurant burned on July 7.