To Harper Lee - Thanks for Everything!

I once read that for Christmas, a group of friends gave one of their friends, a years worth of income so they could write a book. That book was, “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. That has stuck by me for so long. That was such an incredible amount of faith and love given by her friends. What an incredible way she honored them by writing one of the most beautiful yet tragic stories ever told.

Life has been my favorite experiment. I’m often shocked at how easy it is in this world to become anything you want, whenever you want. I’m fascinated by the unlimited choices in front of me.

My favorite roles are Mother, Wife, Daughter, Sister, Aunt and friend. These are my forever roles that I treasure and nurture because they’re the most important. I’ve had a lot of temporary roles too. I’ve gained amazing knowledge and experience through them, but none of them were meant to be forever. We’ve even homeschooled and public schooled and gained all kinds of knowledge and perspective.

I’ve been an Office Manager/Quality Assurance for a home remodeling company, a Barista and Supervisor at Starbucks (Great company for employees!), sold New Hondas (and been Honda Certified) and any preowned vehicle (including lots of fun Jeeps at Hopper!), been the first Business Development Manager at a dealership, I’ve been the first Female Business Development Director at another dealership (where a millionaire created a job for me and allowed me to create and recruit an entire department), I’ve been the Internet Director at a large Ford store (and Ford Certified), Customer Service Director and Assistant to the joint managing partner. I’ve sold portable oxygen concentrators for a dynamic startup that is thriving and had my own Personal Assistant for hire business where I was able to help so many fabulous clients with their home organization, assist with their small businesses, help introduce structure and schedules into their families and help manage households. I’ve sold Hughes Net satellite Internet and was a Senior Supervisor for an AT&T B2B campaign. I hold a Real Estate License in Texas and a Life & Health License in 32 states and am certified to sell Medicare Supplement plans. We even moved to Missouri for a year and got to experience the small town country life.

I’m pretty good at helping adults. Being a Supervisor/Manager/Director were my favorite paid roles, because you get to help people make money. More than that, you get to help raise them to that next level money. To their next level, to help them change their lives.

Let me explain with perhaps my favorite example - my first half day at Ford (I had quit Honda in the am and drove straight to my new job) I caught a man eyeing a Mustang in the showroom and no salesman were around. We chatted, I learned his car was in service and he hated it, but his wife refused to get a Mustang. She came along and we chatted and I understood her concerns were having a proper family vehicle designed for car seats as they had one child and one on the way. We discussed the cost of their pending repairs and I knew there was a win/win/win there. They accepted my test drive suggestion and I ran to the desk to find a Salesman. I found Omar Segovia and I said, “This is your two car deal. Make the wife happy and he gets his Mustang. I’m putting my name on you, Iet's do this” This young man looked at me, shook my hand with pride and I gave introductions and turned them over. Everyone won. For me, it was just a good day, until Omar came to me after his clients drove off in their new cars without having to pay their service bill, with tears in his eyes. Suddenly, this formerly confident 6 foot salesman who towered above me, walked toward me humbly, with eyes slightly lowered. He was hesitant almost, and I was quite confused. When we were finally face to face, he could hardly look at me, and spoke with his voice trembling as he attempted to control his overwhelming emotions. He said, “Thank you. I just … thank you…” I began to interrupt, “I didn’t do anything but talk to two people, you sold them! Great job!” He stopped me, “Look. You don’t know me. You just met me today. You just handed me a two car deal and you don’t know…”, he paused for a moment, and took a deep breath. English wasn’t his first language so I imagine he was trying to formulate the words, I could tell those words held weight to him so I patiently waited. He found his words and spoke, “You don’t know that my wife is pregnant and she’s sick with the baby. And she needs a cream to rub on her stomach because it’s better than the other medicine but it’s $800 and I couldn’t buy it. I feel so bad. I can’t save my baby, but now, today, now I can buy it. Because you gave me a two car deal.” It took every bit of will power I had not to throw my arms around this man, but I had a strict code of conduct so I could never be the subject of break room whispers. Right then, I realized the true power I had and knew I had to always honor it. I had the power to help people grow and level up their own lives with just some small effort on my part. After all, he did the work, I was just the intermediary. I’ve worked very hard to honor that since.

Despite how much I’ve loved the role of helping adults, my heart has always been with children. The only dream I set out to accomplish and couldn’t, was my idea of a community respite care program for teens. I had the amazing opportunity to speak with people at the Collin County Children’s Advocacy Center and my idea isn’t possible under current laws, and I’m not a law changer, nor do I have the energy, power or resources for that particular fight.

But, life has an interesting way of taking you back to where you’re supposed to be and I’ve just always known that place was somewhere where I could advocate for children, but more importantly, help give them the skills to advocate for themselves. 2020 was one of our worst years as a family. 2020 derailed a lot of what many of us thought we were working towards. We had losses and setbacks and things were bleak for a bit. I was in a rough place in the fall. I had a really hard time remembering that I was strong and a few people who helped remind me. In December, we had to make tough choices. We had two new businesses and only enough capital to keep one alive. Covid had changed our market and income - and the husbands business made the most sense to keep so I deactivated my Real Estate License in December of 2020.

I sat with a friend a few weeks later and when I told her, she asked if I regretted the time and money spent. No, not at all. I told her I profited more than I spent, and spent less than most people spend on their first wedding ;) . I had zero regrets about the time. In that time, I learned so much, not just about homes, but about contract law, how property conveys in Texas, homeowner rights and responsibilities, zoning and property use, city codes and so much more. I connected with people in so many different fields and not only created new relationships, but learned from their knowledge in their fields as well. Aside from Real Estate, the most important things I learned about during that time, was the importance of life insurance and estate planning - especially if you're a homeowner. Since December, two friends, who own property, have lost a spouse, without life insurance, and are not able to keep their homes, vehicles, or lifestyles the way they have been - I will never stop talking to all of you about life insurance. I don't even sell it - I just want you to buy it - from anyone - just do it. And if you own joint property in Texas and you and your spouse have children from a former relationship - I want you to talk to a lawyer about how your property will convey if something happens to one of you.

Initially, I thought I would rejoin the workforce for an income and see what else I can learn out there. But then, 2021 continued to rain down blessings. One child graduated and has always loved and and felt valued at his job. The other three, were able to change their job situations, increase their income, but more importantly, move to companies where they are valued and respected. One of our children moved to Rowlett last year to live with their dad and has thrived in his new school now that he's not being targeted as a troublemaker and has a 4.5 GPA and earned a leadership role in the Air Force ROTC program. The husband has thrived in his business, has become a Mentor with the company and is enjoying what he does. I have been able to help family and friends during some times of medical needs by taking care of them or kiddos and have been able to better support not only the members of my immediate household (my husband and son), but also my older children who no longer live at home. As the year continued to bring us blessings, the husband and I realized it was time. Time for me to stop working on making an income, and time for me to invest in myself in a different way.

So I did it - again - I'm going back to school, for maybe the 3rd time. I enrolled in Collin College to work toward my teaching certification. This time though, I don't plan on stopping until I'm done, because I've been given the gift of time. Through my husband, I've basically been given an entire year's worth of "income" - which really just translates into the time to pursue my goals without the burden of having to also earn an income at the same time. What a beautiful gift! I won't even pretend that I'm capable of producing something as magical as Harper Lee - but I had to ask myself, am I doing everything I can with this gift? School is easy, and I'll have plenty of other hours to fill in the day. I always said if I ever had a few months off where I didn't have to work, I'd lock myself in my room and write a book. So, I'm pretty sure that's actually where I'm at now. It's not in the way I imagined, but I would be a fool if I overlooked this amazing opportunity that is occurring at this point in my life and this gift to continue to create.

I've spent the past year, during Covid, painting, drawing, sewing, gardening and doing whatever my creative heart desires. All of that has been for me. To know that I can. To push past the limitations I hold on myself. I even learned how to Moonwalk - because - why the hell not! There any many things I've learned, and over the years, I've learned to become pretty good at words. I know a lot of them, and sometimes, I'm good at putting them in the right order to convey an emotion, situation, point or whatever happens to be on my mind.

So, Ms Lee - this year is for you. This year, just as you honored the gift given to you, I'm going to honor my time too. I'm nowhere near your league, but maybe, just maybe, I can honor this gift and write something to leave the legacy I believe in this world. Day one ... one morning started writing ... successful so far. Let's do this :)