I hope you will indulge me taking up a blog post to brag a little bit on my husband, Kenny. Like me, he is on a difficult journey and I think sometimes people forget that!
For quite some time prior to my sentencing in August of last year, we knew that it was highly likely that I would be spending time in prison. So clearly a lot of planning needed to be done! One of the main issues of course was that my income would disappear for a period of time and this was compounded by the fact that Ken had not worked since we moved to Austin from San Francisco in 2005! His last job had been with the Expo Design Center (part of Home Depot) as Trade Services Manager working with contractors on kitchen and bath projects. We used to joke about how poorly the big orange box managed the Expo business. They eventually ran it into the ground and closed it down. So when we moved to Palm Springs from Austin in 2009, we became loyal Lowe's customers! Because we owned vacation rental properties at the time, Ken was in and out of Lowe's a lot and got to know a lot of the employees there. So when it became clear I would probably be away for a while, he targeted Lowe's for potential employment. Once I was indicted in 2013, I started gently prodding Ken to apply at Lowe's but he said he wasn't ready yet. Hmmmm. OK.
In early 2014, he was ready to go in and he was simply hoping for an "associate" position "stirring paint" so he could get health insurance for us. Instead, they interviewed him for a brand new position as an in store Project Specialist where he would work with an outside contractor to manage all of the kitchen and bath projects in the store - a full time, salaried position and the only commission based position in the store! Here he was worried that he was too old and too out of touch and Lowe's was thrilled to find him! Had he applied earlier, he probably would not have gotten the position. I should have known to trust his instincts!
So he started his job in February of 2014. The learning curve has been incredibly steep and, since this was a new program in this region of Lowe's stores, there were lots of growing pains and contradictory directions from various parties who had a stake in the success of the program. To complicate matters, the initial contractor selected for the program for his store turned out to not be a good fit. Every week when I got home from my job at Glaukos in Orange County, Ken said, "this job is going to kill me!" He was working six days and sixty plus hours per week. It would have been tough on a 30 year old who was used to working those kind of hours. Mr. Ken was determined to figure it all out and be successful. I was -- and I remain -- in awe.
And for those of you who know my Kenny, you won't be surprised to hear that he HAS figured it out! His sales are over plan for the year that ends Jan. 31 and he is recognized by management as the top Project Specialist in his region. He has helped his store meet its overall quota on a number of occasions and the store manager -- and his customers -- love him! He's also paying all the bills and managing our one remaining vacation rental; ALL WHILE HIS HUSBAND AND PARTNER IS IN PRISON! I cannot tell you how incredibly proud of him I am.
While my journey over the past few years has been difficult, in many ways, Ken's has been even tougher. He is the one who has to keep our lives going while I am helpless here to contribute in any meaningful way. He is the one who has had to step out of his comfort zone, learn new skills and work harder than he has ever worked without his partner there to support him. He has done all of this while giving me the emotional support I need to get though my journey. He is truly an amazing man and an amazing husband and his strength continually lifts me up! I love you and I am so proud of you, Mr. Ken!
What a wonderful post, David, and so true. Kenny never fails to rise to the occasion. His enthusiasm and dedication to his job and his clients is 100%. And he feels a very real responsibility to help keep his Lowes in great financial shape. From everything I’ve heard, he’s the person upper management is using as their example of how well others in his same position at Lowes should be, but aren’t. I don’t know about that, though. Kenny’s pretty hard to replicate. 🙂