Living the Dream

Just got back from London yesterday.

I went there with my sons to open our first international office.

My husband and I started the company 48 years ago. We borrowed 1272 dollars from my younger brother to buy a used ’67 limo.

I laughed when my husband said we would go into the chauffeured transportation service. “Who uses limos?” I asked him. We certainly didn’t. On the rare occasions we traveled, my dad drove us.

“I don’t know,” he replied. He had only been in this country for three years. “Since I can’t sing or dance, it’s gotta be driving,” he told me.

Who knew we’d turn it into an impressive ground transportation company that would employ hundreds of people? I certainly didn’t have the faintest idea of how to grow a business larger than a mom-and-pop enterprise.

He had dreams, my husband. He didn’t quite understand where he wanted to go, but he knew it was somewhere. He wasn’t an MBA and barely made it through high school, but he had a keen mind that absorbed concepts I couldn’t understand.

Car by car, city by city, we grew the business sacrificing everything but our family. In fact, we included them. It was the best support staff we could find. We made great friends along the way. Our employees became part of our extended family, bleeding right alongside us with every setback or celebrating each victory with the same passion and devotion as ourselves. They shared our grief when he passed five years ago.

Now my sons and our staff have taken over his goals. We are open in London, making our company international. His ambitions when he stepped into the country with 200 dollars in his pocket are being realized by the next generation. That was his dream, and I am so happy to be part of it.