Learning A+ Living: Adventures & Rewards of a Mom Entrepreneur

By Debra Dingman

Women from all walks of life will be uplifted, encouraged and inspired by relating to an ordinary (and she stresses ordinary in that wearing a business suit and sporting 3-inch heels would be way too uncomfortable, but she wouldnt mind a tummy tuck) American mom/entrepreneur who discovers in reflection of her life, that working was an equal contender to home for where life happens.

Like most women Debra Dingman has always held at least two jobs: One at home and one outside the home be it part-time, full-time, or volunteering for school, Scouts, or church. This is her adventure told through the jobs she held and her family life that was woven in between.

Each chapter unfolds a new phase of life beginning when she is a teenager with her first job and ultimately facing age discrimination as she searches for one later in life. She intimately shares her experiences, and the significant lessons they brought, with an authentic faith, sense of humor, or tears.

Youll read the importance of being teachable and learning all that you can, even from seemingly insignificant work. If you are waiting until you get off work to really engage, you are missing many opportunities to amass skills, wisdom, and joy to bring home to your family.

Following her enthusiasm and capturing her nuggets of heart-felt wisdom will inspire you to keep close to God and help you understand that life, including work, is a faith journey. Debra discovered she earned far more than her (small) paychecks. She learned an A+ living and you can, too!

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 8, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512744859

Debra Dingman

Debra Dingman’s passion for writing was sparked by winning an eighth grade essay contest about America’s future—which was seen through her rose-colored glasses—and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She was honored as the outstanding high school journalist by the California Newspaper Publishers Association and swooned over the award: A very professional-looking Royal Futura manual typewriter with case. She certified as a Childbirth Educator and earned her BA in Journalism while winning numerous writing and public speaking awards. She became a popular newspaper columnist for many years—writing Erma-Bombeck-style about babies, children, and the quiet life she longed. Her hundreds of natural childbirth and parenting students provided plenty of fodder. As a reporter, Feature Writer, Editor and ultimately a newspaper owner, she wrote about people from all walks of life. Her heart-touching columns appeared in a national military magazine during her husband’s post 9/11 deployment and her authentic style has entertained thousands throughout her 40 years of writing. She owns The Write Mind, a public relations company for small businesses and non-profits. It brings her more joy than money. Connect with her at http://twmpublicrelations.com

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Copyright © 2016 Debra Dingman.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

All rights reserved.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-4486-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-4487-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-4485-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016909080

WestBow Press rev. date: 07/08/2016

Contents

Introduction

Book Dedication

Chapter 1 Fourteen and Many Firsts

Chapter 2 Customer Service is Making Friends

Chapter 3 The Miracle of Childbirth

Chapter 4 Finding and Using My Gift

Chapter 5 Becoming an Entrepreneur

Chapter 6 Freelancing for Survival

Chapter 7 Children’s Shop of Clothing & Toys

Chapter 8 Passion for Children Grows to Ministry

Chapter 9 In The Sandwich Generation

Chapter 10 Working The Write Mind

Chapter 11 Temp Pool & Jobs With Uniforms

Chapter 12 Adventure to Dallas

Epilogue Meeting Teddy

LEARNING A+ LIVING

Introduction

Rita and I met when our daughters started in Daisy Girl Scouts, and we’ve been life-long friends ever since. We didn’t plan it that way. It just happened over the years as we enjoyed our daughters in their Girl Scout activities and they also became close friends. I occasionally watched Rita’s children or delivered birthday flowers to them on her behalf or sometimes helped them put on their Halloween costumes for the school parade. In turn, Rita listened to me, said prayers for me and uplifted me during many challenges when I thought God had given me more than I could handle. I was the emotional one, and she was the rock. I was a full-time homemaker while she worked full time at a utility company.

Fast-forward to thirty years later to one of our monthly lunches where we would share with each other about our grown children and now share about our grandchildren, we got on the subject of our ‘landings.’ Rita is a widow now but has a nice retirement. She will have a regular income and will be covered with medical insurance until she dies. Despite I have savings and investments, I don’t have a company pension, as most of my work over the years was self-employed or part-time built around flexibility for my family. Although we chose completely different paths of working as mothers, Rita and I both have grown children who are happy, well-adjusted and successful in their career fields. They are also wonderful parents and we have precious grandchildren.

We were basically done with our careers, but I felt I had lost my purpose, and she was relaxing in her retirement. I began to ponder the benefit of ‘sacrificing a career’ for my family. I had gone to college and had a degree but never held a well-paying job in my field. Rita didn’t go to college but was well paid. Had I made wrong choices? Did my work ever really matter?

All I could think of was how I had no pension and if not for my husband, would have to work the rest of my life when Rita exclaimed, Look at all the life experiences you have had that I didn’t! She was just as jealous of my experiences as I was of her pension.

As I lay in bed later that night, I siphoned through the file drawers in my head for regrets as I investigated the positions I held and re-visited the businesses I had throughout my life. With each one, I would smile and even sometimes laugh out loud making my husband, who was trying to sleep next to me, quite crazy. But, I could not sleep for I knew this book was born.

How many other women could I help by showing them that a full, rich life can happen in any case—if she is teachable and keeps growing in faith? I figured a lot of women could benefit from my story, as I have always been a perfect example of what I call Middle America. I am not rich but not poor; not highly educated but not uneducated; not slim but not (too) overweight; not beautiful but not ugly. Well, you get the picture. Women need to know there is no such thing as insignificant work when God is your boss.

The result of my reflection is that I have no regrets. One job often led into another and afforded me the flexibility to be the one to dress my child in his or her Halloween costume. I didn’t miss their field trips, class parties nor sports meets. Our family meals were well prepared and nutritious. Our dinner was a set time almost all their lives. My children accompanied me to the post office, the copy shop, and the bank and learned how to behave in public. In the early years, and because the laundry, housekeeping, car registrations, household repairs, and grocery shopping were done during my weekdays, our evenings and weekends were filled with fun family camping trips, church activities, or pleasant times with friends. In their elementary and high school years, I owned my businesses so I could arrange my schedule for their special school events and I could also teach them business skills as they worked by my side. I had whole-heartedly lived. No one can put a price on those memories, and there is a faith-filled legacy I pray I’m leaving behind.

Each work experience drew me closer to God in one way or another, be it praise to Him or prayers for help. My imperfections sometimes yelled and sometimes quietly tore at my soul, but each gave me tenderness for others in similar situations. Through my journey, I touched many, many people’s lives and I hope they saw the love of Christ through me. I gained priceless lessons from my very first job where I learned to be on time and cook refried beans to my last in a hospital gift shop where I learned sickness visits people of all ages, colors, and socio/economic backgrounds. My faith grew with each new assignment. Although there are only a few scriptures sprinkled throughout the book, there were many that I memorized and lived by. Only now, do I feel I can confidently say I am wise. I invite you to share in that wisdom while reading about my jobs and my imperfect life. It is interesting that after I re-read several chapters, I realized that I had ended them with saying something to the effect of these were the best years. I am so grateful to my steadfast Heavenly Father—and to my spouse for supporting our family while I ‘Learned a Living.’

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Colossians 3:23, 24

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

LEARNING A+ LIVING

Book Dedication

My daughter, Dannah, gave me a beautiful journal for Christmas soon after she had her first child. She created it herself and it must have taken months—it is called, ‘Nana’s Reflections.’ It is wire-bound and has about twenty pages with each one uniquely decorated with colored paper, glitter, delicate letters, and designs. My daughter is the middle of my three children (she has an older and younger brother) and has always been a person of intense creativity. When I opened the present, it took my breath away as page after page is truly stunning. The book I write now is the result of spending years filling that record book with important lessons of my life through my walk as a woman. My goal is to pass these lessons onto my granddaughters and perhaps along the way, help other women gain free wisdom in order to avoid costly mistakes.

These are lessons that helped enable me to live each new phase of womanhood fully and to experience them with great joy despite the occasional storms resulting from bad decisions. As a journalist who has interviewed countless women over my life, and as one who got to step inside other people’s journeys, I concluded that many of these lessons could help another woman’s walk be a little less painful and a lot more fulfilling. Lessons are offered in chronological order of my jobs from a young to an older woman. They are found along the paths of young married, new mother, teacher, volunteer, businesswoman, divorcee, single mom, mother of teens, remarried, military wife, mother of college students, care-provider for my own mother, empty nester, new grandmother and now, well, the journey continues!

My daughter was also the one who encouraged me to write this book so for her—this book is dedicated. Dannah worked for several years at a large bookstore, and I have been a columnist all my adult life published in local newspapers as well as a national family magazine. I had always threatened to write a book but one day when I met her at her work, I told her despondently, I have no reason to write; just look at all these books! Everything has already been said! to which she immediately