Work-related travel was part of my career over the years, and Eva accepted that gracefully. After Jennifer married in 1992, I took a consulting contract to manage a project in Temple Texas. It was a major project for one of Drayton McLane’s companies that provided the computer system used in convenience stores for point of sale and accounting systems. The software was developed for single stores and for multi-store chains, but not in the thousands. It was processed on PC Networks and had limitations like a four-digit store number and other restrictions within program logic in a little over 450 programs.
The company had signed a contract with the Japanese company that had purchased the 7-11 Chain of convenience stores for the software. The software company did not want any of its existing customers affected by the changes, and they did not want to have to maintain two separate versions of the system. The updated version had to be able to know which version of the screens for each store. I was hired to manage the project and a team of up to fourteen programmers to develop and test all the modifications to the systems. The project was expected to take six to nine months working a minimum of sixty hours a week.
The specifications for the modifications changed multiple times during the project and the contract programmers were brought in from several cities, including some from out of state. The project was stressful by itself; however, the hardest part was working twelve-hour days Monday through Friday, then having to drive the 160 miles home on Friday night or Saturday morning and then make the 160-mile return trip Sunday night or very early Monday morning.
During my career, there were periods when I traveled on business for a week or more, but not regularly. At first, it was exciting to go to places I had not been before but not so much as I got older. Every trip I took meant that Eva had to take care of things I would do if at home. When our daughters were still at home, she had things going on with them, and even when they were away at college, she could talk to them at night. Eva never complained about my work trips or about the long hours I worked at times except for her concern for my health.
Neither Eva nor I had cell phones until 1999, and I did not have a phone in my apartment in Temple. Long-distance calls back then could add up quickly, so I had a long-distance card that I used on a pay phone on the grounds of the apartment to call Eva each night. We laughed and called that our date-calls. We had been married for twenty-eight years, but I missed being with her. Our weekends were short and filled with must-do tasks. The money I was earning was good and I did not have another contract in Houston identified, but I was happy that the project was completed after more than seven months in Temple. The company offered to hire me as a Vice President in charge of software development and a cash bonus to get ownership of my Church/Non-Profit System that I had developed a few years before. I would have to move to Temple, and they did not want me to work remotely from Houston regularly. I knew that Eva wanted to be close to family, so I turned the offer down.
That was another “road not taken” that at times can cause you to second-guess your decisions if you let them. This memory came back when I was looking through photo albums and realized there were no photos after the wedding in 1992 and none for 1993. Then I remembered the consulting projects I was working on during those years. There were times over the years when I was required to travel on business; however, I never went for more than one week at a time.
It has been 32 months and 28 days since you left to be with Jesus, and I still miss being with you.
Charley Pride – Amazing Love
Discover more from RICHRAY BLOG
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
