A Honest Living

I get up around 2-3 AM with flashbacks. This week I have had several.. I try and write about them before they leave me. I will share a few as the blog goes along. I hope you area able to get to know more of my mom, and see someone in your life that reminds you of her.

Honest Day of Work.

I can still hear the clicking sound of her frosty red nails banging out agreements, contracts, emails on the keyboard.   As long as I can remember she was a worker. Growing up in Dallas she worked day and night to learn and get a foot in the door in an industry that male dominated. She started out as a secretary at small company called US Resources, she quickly realized she wanted more. She went to school at night, studied, listened, watched and slowly moved roles.  Few more stepping stones, she eventually got a contract job at Arco in the late 80s. Around the same time, she thought I was turning rebellious so she put in the private school across the street from her office. The office was in downtown Dallas, and we lived in Plano. It was a good hour commute each way depending on what time you left. It was funny how 15 mins made such a difference in morning commutes. We rode the Dart bus every day. I hated riding the bus. I would beg her to drive so I could listen to the radio in the morning, but it was $15 a day to park and she said that was too expensive, plus she drove a 1974 Pontiac Catalina (She inherited from my Aunt Nola) and gas mileage was not the best. Looking back, those two hours of riding everyday together were priceless.

Shortly after, Arco offered her a full-time job in Midland or Alaska. She bribed me with a new wardrobe if I would move (as if I had a choice.) I wore uniforms, and had no idea about fashion or clothes. This soon changed when we moved to Midland. The move took some getting use too. Somehow the middle of the dessert was the fashion mecca of Texas. To avoid immediate shock, it was routine to fly new families in at night.  I woke up the flattest place I have ever seen. My new home. 

Midland was good for my Mom. She had an opportunity to shine and met some of her best friends in the industry. She started a Lady Landman’s lunch group and there were only eight women. She had a license plate cover that said, ” Lady Landman.” She learned early on to be honest. She felt like if there was a deal to be made let’s make it worthwhile for you and me. She kept her word.  It is amazing how many people just appreciate an honest person, yet it seems so hard for us to be honest with others and ourselves. 

Though out the ups and downs of the oil business our life did not waver too much. There were no extremes, mainly because we never lived extreme.   I remember worrying about possible lay-offs, but we did not experience the stories you hear where everyone lost everything.   It is funny how you can grow up in one town and never realized the culture that lives one zip code number over. There is a distinct different between “Old and New Midland”. All I knew was my parents worked hard every day 8-5.  

When Mom left Arco there was an opportunity to go out on her own with 3 other co-workers. It failed. She lost everything and more that she worked so hard for up to that point. However, it was not the money that bothered her it was when she saw how one partner decided not to fulfill his obligations.  I remember her being so shocked and disgusted that a partner could just leave the others and still sleep at night.   It was a life lesson, character lesson really. She told me a hundred times that year, “No matter what, you always fulfill your obligations.”   

Several years later she decided to try and go out on her own again with new business partners. I asked her if she was nervous about trying it again… she said, “Why?!”  She did not worry much, she saw everything as an opportunity. Some you win, some you lose. Her thought was even if you lose there were many lessons to be learned, invaluable lessons.  “Success is when you live your life doing what you love.” She had a good heart, she was honest, she loved teaching, helping and watching others succeed. She once said, “Life is not the size of your bank account, but how many treasures you have stored up in heaven..” She would always say I worry enough for her. I pray one day I have the same ability to love and live life as she did…and not worry so much!