Jonas
“Mom, you know I hate these things, why do you continually insist on throwing out the invitations?” I held back my sigh of exasperation so as not to hurt her feelings. Something I do only for her.
A grown man I may be, but with a mother like mine you never forget, because she constantly reminds you just who gave birth to you and how long it took; in agonizing detail no less.
In this way you never forget yourself and cross the line. Never for one moment misplace your loyalty by forgetting who gave you life. I’m fine with that, but these invitations are pass trying.
It’s like consciously making the choice to put your neck in a noose. Or walking into a viper’s nest, knowing that there’s no way not to get bitten. Something I avoid at all cause, being in a closed room with my peers for hours of unending drudgery.
Her heart is in the right place but you’d think after all these years she’d know her son better by now. Or at a minimum pay attention to his likes and dislikes. Now I’m the one being obtuse, that’s not mom’s way.
“Come on son it’s for a wonderful cause and your father and I can’t make it. Someone needs to be there to represent the family.” And here comes the sell, with just a little bit of guilt mixed in to seal the deal.
I held the bridge of my nose between my fingers to stem the flow of the headache I felt coming on. She’s the only woman in the world that can make me jump through hoops and she’s been doing it all my life so she’s very good at it. Damn near perfected the art I’d say.
She has no respect for my time or whatever I may have going on at the moment. She just expects her baby boy to drop everything and cater to her every whim. And because I love her immensely I always do.
“Fine, but this is the last one you old tyrant.”
“Bless you son, you’re always such a good boy.”
“Uh huh, as long as you get your way.” I sent her a kiss over the phone to let her know there were no hard feelings even though the last thing I wanted to do is what she was asking of me.
“I have to run now your father is making a racket outside with the car. I love you my boy, now don’t forget to bid on something good.”
“Will do, I will speak with you over the weekend.”
I hung up the phone and walked over to the bank of windows in the penthouse suite. It had been one of those trying days where everything that could possibly go wrong did. And that includes the phone call that just ended.
As head of my family’s brokerage firm in the midst of the worst recession anyone had seen in over fifty years it hasn’t been easy for the past year or so.
I’ve had to forsake everything else, except food and sleep to take care of things, with very little time for social obligations. In short, it’s been some time since I’ve been laid, or even felt the need.
Who has time for that when your livelihood and that of the thousands of people working for you are at stake? Well not so much mine, the market can crash six ways from Sunday and I’ll still have the same amount of zeros following the first number in my account, but my people may not all be that lucky.
So I’d benched my own wants and needs for the last little while to concentrate all my energy where it was needed. On saving the company that has been in my family for generations.
Thankfully we’ve been able to keep our heads above water while so many others around us were drowning. Still, I had to work that much harder to see that we not only survived but that we stayed on top.
There were a hell of a lot of people trying to topple us over. Most of them thought that after dad retired it would be easy pickings. They didn’t count on me having the expertise of my father and the wherewithal of a grandfather who had taught me everything I know.
I’ve wanted this company since I was old enough to know that it would one day be mine. I’ve worked my whole life to get here and now that I’m the one holding the reins there is no way I’m going to fail.
My age has been a deterrent and a blessing in disguise. I’d taken over right out of college, a little more than ten years ago. Back then, many thought I was too young to do business with, and some thought that because of my young age I would be easily taken advantage of. They had no idea who they were dealing with.