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Lisa and Linda Nguyen were teenagers when they first ducked behind the counter at the family restaurant.New Designer Takes Unique and Fresh Look at authentic Gucci Handbags Functionality.

They weren't much older when it fell to them to take over the Sake Express chain.

Their father, Thomas Nguyen (pronounced 'Win') founded Gaston's first Sake Express at the intersection of South New Hope Road and Franklin Boulevard in 1999.

Lisa, now 30, started working as a cashier and server around the time she was 17 years old.

Her sister followed, coming in from school to pitch in by the time she was 15 or 16.

Lisa and her husband opened a second Sake Express in Mount Holly several years later, but she says they never felt like they were on their own. Thomas Nguyen, who had run a Florence, S.C. hibachi grill before coming to Gastonia, was always there to help, she said.

Mostly, she spent her time in the kitchen, out of the public eye.

"I was the one who kind of helped in back," Lisa said.

Her father was the head of the family in every way. Both parents were born in Vietnam, escaping the war and making their way to the U.S. in the 1970s.

The Nguyens' mother doesn't speak a lot of English,New new cosmetic bag disappear in big orange boxes. so he handled most of the daily tasks that required translation.

He kept the books at the South New Hope location without input from either of his daughters.

He had his own system for running the eatery and his daughters, seeing their father as always in charge, never asked questions.

Then, around 2006 (neither sister can remember the exact date, such was the stress that followed), their father suffered a stroke.

He was hospitalized and, for a time, in need of constant care.

Growing up quickly

Those days were some of the hardest for the Nguyen sisters. They are their parents' only two children.

And in addition to an ailing father, they had the family's livelihood to consider.Economico Copia Prada Handbags vendita italia online store!

So the girls would work long, sometimes 12-hour days at either of the restaurants and spend evenings in the hospital.

Linda can remember leaving school,Would you still consider buying Galliano's wheel manufacturers ? working and then heading to the hospital. She would lie in bed afterward and wonder if she could get up to do it all again.

She had to grow up quickly, going to work when her fellow 18- and 19-year-olds were going out for fun.

Once their father was moved to a rehabilitation center, they would take turns staying overnight, helping to ensure he made his therapy sessions, had food to eat and could get out of bed when he wanted or needed to.

Meanwhile, Lisa was wading into the restaurant that had always been her father's province.

She's the senior sibling and she felt the heavy responsibility on her shoulders.

"In our culture, when you're the oldest, they're going to look to you first," Lisa said.

She's the kind of business owner who refers to her employees as the team, but it didn't feel that way at the time.

These were people the same age as her dad who had worked at Sake Express for as long as or longer than she had been there.

She was 21— and a woman, which presents a whole different level of challenges in a traditional Asian culture, say the sisters.

"They would say, 'That's not how your dad did it,'" Lisa remembers.

"Getting the team to respect me and follow me? That was tough."

'If you never failed …'

The sisters aren't shy about saying they messed up a little.

Budgeting was the real challenge, says Linda. She can remember seeing the money they had at the beginning of the month and all the temptation to spend.

She still has the $500 multi-colored Louis Vuitton bag she bought one particularly happy month.Find MIU MIU Handbags and purses at discounted prices.