No Stone Unturned…

As I’ve been meeting a lot of new people at the dog park, all kinds of conversations have been sparked. It’s not hard for me to join in because, as one of the dog moms pointed out, I’ve been blessed to do so much. She asked, “How many jobs have you had?!” This started the list that even surprised me…

I started hauling hay when I was 14. That fed me through high school, but, in college, I really spread my wings. As a freshman, I was given a “football job” working for a large road paving company. Coming home that summer, I started working at a jeans specialty store and was soon recruited to a custom suit shop and eventually landed in a western apparel shop (all of which were located in the same mall). That got me through my sophomore year when the lure of big bucks led me to a manager’s position at Hardee’s. Yes, I did fast food.

A career slinging burgers didn’t seem to have much of a future, so, for a while, I took over for JB delivering and assembling La-Z-Boys. About that time, KP decided to start a lawn maintenance and landscaping company. It began with me pushing a mower all week while he worked full-time at a nursery, and the two of us doing landscaping gigs on the weekend. College was coming to an end, so I took off for bigger and better things while KP stayed home and became wildly successful.

It was 1985 and the economy was not in great shape. The job scene was not very hopeful for a guy with a degree in education who didn’t want to teach. My first post-college job was selling specialized cancer insurance for a boutique insurance company. The job sucked and I didn’t last long because I found an even worse job – working for ChemLawn. Spraying 60′ trees with chemicals can’t be too bad for you, can it? (maybe that explains my hair loss).

After a short stint there, I landed a job as an insurance auditor for a third-party company. I actually found some success there and was getting paid for exactly what I doing. Unfortunately, that decade’s old, family-owned company was bought out by a large national firm. My boss left to form his own company and I stayed on for a while… until I got caught working for his new company on the side. It didn’t take much to bust me. I sent an audit I’d done for his company to my new company. That meeting in the boss’s office was very short.

The new company prompted a move to St. Louis and was my first experience in a bigger city that lasted a couple of years until AIG came along and recruited me. It was more money and a paid move to Chicago. The move turned out to be great but the job really sucked. Wearing a tie was wearing on me and I went from a top producer to someone who didn’t want to be there.

Sometime in that first year, I started working the door at a neighborhood bar and grill and found that I loved that life much more than the one I was living. Thus began my life in the bar and restaurant business – for the next 20+ years.

While I loved my time and success in the nightlife business, meeting Amy solidified that it wasn’t something I wanted to do forever. I had always said that at 50 I would be done. When asked why, I would relate that often when you walk into a bar, you’ll see an old guy sitting at the bar flirting with all the young waitresses. That guy is often the owner, and I called him the creepy old dude. I wanted to make sure I never became the creepy old dude!

I departed the entertainment industry on schedule and poured myself full-time into Double Lucky Ranch. We bought the ranch in 2008 – and we all remember what a wonderful time that was to buy real estate. I learned early on that I really loved horses, but horse people, not so much. Times were hard for everyone and it felt like everyone’s problems became ours.

To supplement our income, we formed Double Lucky Photography and Shoot the Bull Photography in a crazy attempt get us through those tough times. Neither business did great, but they did produce a lot of memories (of couple of which are actually good). If you’d like a good laugh, the Shoot the Bull Photography Facebook page still exists.

I managed to stay retired for a couple of months after finally getting out of the ranch, but for some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to drive a school bus. The stories from those couple of years could fill a book by itself, and I managed to extricate myself from this job and try retirement one more time.

Finding a lot of time on my hands yet again, I came up with the idea to start putting that education degree to use as a substitute teacher. I brought up this idea in conversation at a G10 Christmas party and one of the wives, who worked at a local middle school, talked me into going on a tour with her principal. By the end of the tour, he said, “You know, we have a full-time position…” This led to 9 fulfilling years working with great kids and teachers.

So, now I’m done, right? Well, one Sunday at church, one of our pastors approached me about the need for an algebra teacher at a school co-founded by his wife. This prompted a lengthy conversation after services that ended with her asking me to join the team. About that time, Amy approached us and the first words out of her mouth were, “You’re not retired anymore, are you?” She was correct and I was onboard for one more trip.

I’m proud to say that this year I have been able to say “no” to all inquiries for my services, with the exception of a weekly tutoring session as a volunteer… so that doesn’t count.

As I started this week’s entry, I had plans to not only write about my jobs that I’ve held over the years, but also to talk about the wonderful places I’ve been blessed to visit, and exciting things I’ve been lucky enough to experience. Looking back at what I’ve written thus far, it’s obvious that those topics are going to have to wait for another week.

To wrap up this week and tie it to my diagnosis with Lou Gehrig’s disease, I’ll just tell you that when I was first diagnosed, I was still working full-time at the middle school. I kept under wraps, not wanting anyone to know. Eventually I shared the news with the staff toward the end of the school year, but the kids never knew. At my new school, it was eventually announced, and I can’t tell you how wonderful the kids (and the parents) have been, supporting me at every turn and offering nothing but love.

Thank you all for enduring my walk down memory lane. I feel pretty certain I’ve forgotten a job or two and intentionally left out all volunteering that I’ve done. I’ll work on something more entertaining for your perusal next week.

Have a great weekend.

Find joy wherever you can, then share it.

God bless.

Coach