There have been many defining moments in my life but one in particular has always stood out to me. My dad owned a little country restaurant outside of my hometown of Richlands, NC. I convinced him to let me work there one summer to make some extra money. After all, I was about 14 and of the age to want to buy the "right kind" of clothes. (Those clothes incidently look a lot like clothes that are popular today - Sperry Top Siders, neon, Converse, preppy shirts, hair bows, etc). Of course those clothes cost twice as much as what my mom was willing to spend. She was a hairdresser and worked hard for every penny she made. Enter the summer job. Friday evenings and Saturday mornings 6 am until around 1:30 pm. I only worked there that one summer. I made good money and realized that everyone at some point in their life needs to work as a waiter or waitress. The standard tip of 10 to 15% did not apply (and to some people never will) at that time and in that little hole in the wall. I remember cleaning off many a six top and being rewarded with 2 dollar bills for serving plates of hamburger steak, chicken and pastry and filling up enough glasses of sweet tea to float a small boat in the New River. It was hard work trying to keep everyone happy. To arrive and be ready to open at 6:00 am, I had to get up every Saturday morning at 4:00. Hence comes the defining moment. The sun was still asleep on that particular Saturday morning and my comforter pulled around my head was serving me just fine instead of that super attractive hair net I was supposed to wear. I had been at the restaurant until after 10:00 pm the night before getting tea ready and waiting for my dad to finish counting the money. Needless to say I didn't want to serve anyone pancakes, grits, or country ham with red eye gravy. So ... when my dad walked into my room and said, "Gina .... Get up and get ready. We've got to go". I was ready with the excuse. It was quite an ingenius excuse actually. I just knew it was going to work and that my relaxing morning in bed eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch was just around the corner.
"I don't feel good. I don't think I can go in today." Real original. Now remember ... my dad owned the restaurant. He could have babied me, told me to rest and feel better soon, that he would call and tell them I wasn't going to be able to make it. But that's not how I was raised. It's not how we have chosen to raise our son. My dad's decision at that moment helped shape me into the dependable person I am today. He came into my room and told me unless I was dying that there were two women at that restaurant that were depending on me to help them that morning. They didn't get a choice to stay home or not. They had children at home that needed to eat and the job for them was more than extra money to spend on wants. They needed the money to pay bills. I got up and went to work that day and I can say with 100% honesty I have never skipped work one day in my life. If I call in sick you better believe I'm "bad off". I know my Dad's decision that day sent me down what Robert Frost would call the road less traveled. The harder path. The path where you think about more than yourself and what makes your life easy. I am a teacher. An absence for me affects over 100 young people a day. They deserve me to be there and give them my best. I love being a teacher, (and not for June, July, and August) but have always had a dream of owning my own antique shop. I've loved rummaging through junk since I was a kid digging up old glass medicine and face cream bottles in the field behind my Grandma and Granddaddys house. I hope to use this blog to chronicle a new/old idea I'm trying to see become a reality - my own little shop. I know countless others have the same vision. Hopefully the defining moments I have had in my life have shaped me into someone that can see it through. What defining moments do you remember in your life?
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