We've all learned important lessons from our parents and I'm no exception but I have to say, I learned some really great things from my mother-in-law over the years. Just a little back ground, I started dating Kevin when I was 18 and so I've been a part of the Vinicombe clan for more than 40 years. That's a long time!!
After High School, I had been attending Community College working towards a degree in Communications. I was very interested in TV Production and wanted to be a cameraman (or camerawoman). After my first 2 semesters of making deans list and getting very good grades in all my TV production classes, I was overlooked for an internship at a local Cable News Company. When I asked my professor why I did not get the internship, he told me "We don't give camera operator internships to women because they would never hire a woman to be a camera operator". Yes, I was told that and that internship went to a guy in my class. You might think that there would be no way a college professor would ever tell a student that they actively discriminated against women but this was 1982, and yes they did. After that I realized I was in real trouble. I was pretty upset and couldn't really talk to my parents about it because they didn't want me to go to college in the first place. I know that sounds strange but they didn't support me going and my mother's mother actually told me it would be a waste of money being I would only get married and have babies some day, so..... you can see what I was dealing with. My parents only agreed to pay for 1 semester and the rest was going to be on me. Hard to pay for college when you only make minimum wage, which was $3.35 per hour. I was paying for my own schooling and after graduating I needed a job so I knew this degree wouldn't cut it. I had to make a change fast. I couldn't afford to continue in a degree program that I would never be able to work in. During a heartfelt conversation with Kevin's mother she told me "If you know how to type, you'll always have a job". She herself worked for Dun & Bradstreet in NYC as an Executive Assistant to a high level person and had gone to a Secretarial College after graduating from High School. Inspired by a successful working woman, I decided to change my major to Secretarial, starting right away.
Fast forward to that first summer semester, I learned how to type and felt I was ready to find a job by September. I thought it best to get a full time job and continue college in evening because I needed more money then my minimum wage job working in the local movie theater candy stand would pay.
Unfortunately, I hit a snag. This was the early 80's and there were just no jobs for people like me. I wasn't having any luck finding work. Here comes my future Mother-in-Law to the rescue again. At that time, she traveled into New York City on a private bus service and another passenger was a man who worked at a big bank in lower Manhattan. He was just promoted in his department and the current secretary was going to be leaving the department to follow the previous boss who was promoted. He needed a secretary and she told him all about me. She encouraged me to go through testing and apply for the job and I got it!! I worked for the bank for 18 months and it was an amazing experience.
I learned so much while I was there with the biggest coming from the knowledge that I didn't want to be a Secretary but would perhaps want to have a Secretary some day. That inspired me to give my notice and go back to College full time to finally finish my degree in Management. There's more to that story but that would be for another post because it's quite the weaving tale from College to Business Ownership but you know what? My Mother-in-Law was right. Knowing how to type was one of the best things I've ever learned. Fast forward to the early 90's when I was running my start up business and had my first computer. Typing came in so handy. Invoicing corporate clients was so much faster. Creating proposals for brides were done so quickly. Don't event get me started on how important it was when social media and blogging came along, not to mention updating a website daily. I can't imagine how much longer it would have taken if I had to hunt and beck at the keyboard. "If you know how to type, you'll always have a job" turned into "If you know how to type you'll be efficient and independent". I can't imagine my life without this wonderful advice.
Now on to sad news. In case you are not aware, Kevin's mother passed away earlier this year. It was rather shocking as she started looking a bit unwell around Christmas and by early March she was diagnosed with Advanced Pancreatic Cancer. Before that she had been a very active 85 year old. From there it went downhill very quickly and she passed away, at home, on April 26th with Kevin and I by her side. I'm grateful for the time we were able to spend with her, especially after we retired. She was my second mother and the only one I had since my own mother died in 1997. Life won't be quite the same, but all the lessons she taught us will stay with us forever. We love and miss you Mom.
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