I grew up in a family with a good work ethic. My dad was a farmer who worked hard all his life to support his family. He never let up from the daily chores on the farm, and he never got drunk and couldn’t get up in the morning for the early morning milking or whatever it is farmers do in the early morning. There’s no way he could have gotten drunk as my mom didn’t allow liquor in the house. There may have been a bottle in the barn for special occasions such as when Mr. Bendler brought his bull over for a “date” with Alice, our cow, which, in time, would produce a calf. That definitely would have been an occasion for a good stiff drink for everyone! So when Darrell and I married and had kids, we wanted them to grow up with a good work ethic that we both had had.

When Teri was three years old, we bought her a little cardboard play store for her to practice working on customer relations, selling products that people requested and learning phone skills which she is demonstrating in the above picture. She became quite proficient in all those skills, and as she grew older, she moved on to KFC, Pizza Hut and like establishments. She had a good thing going through high school with those part-time jobs, and I thought possibly she had found her calling and maybe she’d stick around the family and become head cashier someplace and we’d all live happily ever after. But no! Teri wanted to go to college, so off she went . . . never to come home again. In fact, she moved to Wash DC after graduating. And even after all that time and effort we had put in to keep her here at Pizza Hut close to us. I’m really just kidding. Teri did exactly as I had done when I was her age. I went to college, and after graduation moved to Wash DC. Teri now has a good career, but if times get bad, she can always come home and put her skills to work at Subway or Pizza Hut.

When Cindy came along, we wanted to instill in her the same work ethic that had carried Teri through her younger years. We couldn’t get her going at the early age of two as shown in the above picture as all she cared about was dressing up in anything that was handy. Could she have been wearing a plastic bag? I know we didn’t have much money for dress-up clothes at that time, but really . . . a plastic bag? She apparently never got it on over her head because if she had, I wouldn’t have that picture . . . or Cindy, for that matter. Cindy worked all through high school at restaurants as a waitress. She would sing and do cheers that she performed with her rally squad at her high school. She made very good tips! But upon graduation, she was off to college just like her sister had done. But she left college early to marry and move to Washington – the state not the city. She fell back on her waitressing skills when times were hard at first but now has a good career going that doesn’t require any restaurant work.

My daughters seem to have followed in my footsteps which was not a bad thing. I guess my two apples didn’t fall far from the tree! They are both doing well now, but they know that they can return to their homeland and the compound anytime and pick up where they left off at Pizza Hut or KFC. And I will welcome them home with open arms.