WHY? How come? What's going to happen to me? Where do I go from here? What could I have done differently? These are but a few of the questions someone asks themselves when things go bad in our lives and relationships. I was always taught if you were a good guy, worked really hard, and did the best you can, things would turn out alright. I think I've done those things, and things didn't turn out alright.
My name is Tom Carroll and I was raised in a small midwestern city. It was a simple but happy childhood until I was thirteen years old. My father was a custodial maintenance man, or a janitor as we called them back then. So, we really never had much money. My mom was a homemaker. That all changed when my dad was killed in a car accident two days after my thirteenth birthday. I was the older of two kids so I needed to make some money to help my mom. She went to work cleaning houses and I took in a paper route before school and worked in a restaurant three days a week after school, along with Friday and Saturday nights. My sister at eleven was taken care of by a neighbor lady after school. We barely got by.
I did this all through high school before I went to a two-year junior college. Even then I worked five nights a week at the restaurant while I had classes during the day. I was never very good in academics. Partly because I didn't like school and partly because I worked so much. I hardly had time to do my homework, much less study. My grades were always just average, but my mom made me get at least two years of business classes in college. I saw to it that my little sister got a four-year degree and even a masters so she could teach in high school.
When I got out of college, I stayed with the restaurant chain where I had been working. I waited tables, but I was made assistant manager also. I was making as much as fifty grand a year, but I worked six days a week, every week. It might seem terrible to some, but without school I felt like I had a little time for the first time since I was thirteen years old. I had a car of my own. An old car, but it was in good shape and it was mine. I still lived at home and helped my mother out, but I did get out to date and have fun with the guys. This was the way my life was for five years when two things happened. First, I was made manager of the restaurant which meant more responsibilities. The other thing that happened was I met my future wife jenny.
I was invited to a party by a friend on a Saturday night. I got to the party late because I was working, so it was already going strong. My friend John and his wife Angel were waiting for me. I learned later that they couldn't wait to introduce me to their friend Jenny. Jennifer Jacobsen was about five foot eight with a trim figure and long brown hair. She wasn't a classic beauty, more of a girl next door type. But to me she was everything I could have hoped for. It truly was love at first site. I felt the attraction on her side also, as we seemed to connect right away. She was smart, articulate, funny, and had a way about her that was just so attractive. She was a year younger than my twenty-five and she worked as a fund raiser for a local charity. She loved her job and Angel told me she was very good at what she did.
Long story short, we were married about a year later. My Mom obviously had no money, but Jenny's family was quite well off. I don't think her parents really took to me. I guess they thought she married below herself. The wedding was at their country club and was big affair. We honeymooned on a Caribbean island thanks to a gift from her mom and dad. When we got home, we moved into an apartment and started our life together.
Two and a half years later we had two daughter Lucy and Maggie. They were wonderful and those first eight years of our marriage were the happiest time I've ever known. By that time Jenny's parents warmed up to me a lot. They were crazy about our daughters and her dad really appreciated how hard I worked for my family. I was now manager of the restaurant working nine-hour days six days a week. But I was happy to do it and I was used to working hard all my life. Now, I had a good reason.
Now fast forward about eight years and both girls were in high school. Lucy was a junior and Maggie was a sophomore. I suppose they were closer to their mom. I tried to never miss an event or game in their life, at least as much as I could. But by this time Jenny was vice-president and head of development at a large private university in our town. The university was a top twenty academic school and hers was a very big job. Her schedule was eight in the morning till about five at night. She would get home, have time with the girls and then be off again to work. There was always plays, concerts, athletics events, and dinners with donors or groups of people from the university. I was now area manager of all three of the restaurants in the area. My work day would start about ten in the morning till around seven at night six days a week. It was hard work, but I was proud of the restaurants. They were family style places. Nothing fancy, but the stores were clean, the service was friendly, and the food was good.
Jenny was always telling the girls about the people she met, the dinners with the wealthy, and the outings with celebrities. She also did a bit of traveling to conferences and meetings with donors. She made more money than I did, and I suppose there's nothing glamorous about running family style restaurants. Still, I was happy and I was doing the best I could. Sundays were always our family time together, but the last few months Jenny and the girls would sleep in, before going shopping, lunch, and sometimes a spa visit. They seemed to have a good time, but I was never included. I would usually get up early, go the church, and then do yard work or anything else needing to be done around our house.
It was a very gradual thing, but I could feel my family pulling away from me. I'm sometimes kind of dense when it comes to some things. And I can't tell you why it happened, but I spent very little time with my family. I tried. I got up each morning to fix everyone breakfast. It's just that my hours put me on a different schedule. After breakfast, I would clean the kitchen, pay the bills if needed, before cleaning around the house. Then I would get ready for work and be gone till after seven. Jenny would rarely be home while the girls would be doing homework or on the phone. I would heat something up and eat by myself. By the time Jenny got home it was nine or ten, and I was exhausted from my day. We barely had time to talk anymore, much less make love. It's sad really. I'm usually considered a good-looking guy. I'm tall at six feet one. I'm still slender and in pretty good shape. I still weigh the same as I did when we met. The fact is I still have a lot of girls hit on me. That's kind of the way it is in the restaurant business. Where at one time, Jenny and couldn't keep our hands off each other, now she seems hardly interested. I wish I kne
w why it happened but, like I said, it was so gradual I didn't notice.
It was February of 2020 that everything changed in my career. Covid-19 or the Coronavirus hit our country. We immediately saw a huge drop in business at the restaurants. I cut back my staff and purchased less food and supplies. By early March we were ordered to close the stores and I was told we would probably not reopen. It seems our land and buildings, wholly owned by our parent company, were more valuable than the three stores. Even though I knew ours were among the more profitable and efficiently run, they were hell bent on taking advantage of our good locations to sell when the virus passed.
I had never been out of work in my life, and I was determined to find something. I knew the easiest thing to do was something Jenny would hate; that is, clean houses. I was sure Jenny would think that was beneath her family, but what was I to do. I was going to support my family no matter what she thought. I didn't think it was a time to be overly proud.
So, I got on the phone and started lining up some jobs. From the restaurants, I knew a lot of people. People from all levels of society. Within one week I had some jobs. Within three weeks I was bringing in fourteen hundred a week, most of it in cash. These people all were friends so they realized it was much better for me to get cash instead of a check. I could do two homes everyday and at five till seven I cleaned some offices. I still got up to fix breakfast, but my first job started at eight thirty. So, my work days started then till I arrived home around seven thirty. My daughters were off school from early March till September when they reopened. Jenny went in to her office occasionally, but did most of her work from home. So, with gloves and mask in hand, I carried my cleaning supplies to work six days a week. Jenny wasn't happy about it, but I felt I needed to do it.
My life went on this way till middle of July. The girls were still off school just hanging out or doing whatever. Jenny, was busier than ever raising money to try and make up for the time lost. I think that's what they were doing because I didn't see much of my family. I was still cleaning six days a week and my body was starting to break down. I didn't want to complain, but the work and the hours had drained me. It was on a Thursday while eating my lunch that I got an unexpected phone call. The call was from a Phoenix area code or I wouldn't have answered. The headquarters for my old employer was located in Phoenix, so I recognized it.
