by Helyn Huffmaster
Small Town
We lived in a very small town when Sadie was growing up. So small in fact that we could take a morning outing and walk to the post office, to the bank, to the auto parts store, to our Church, and to the grocery store. I was a stay at home mom at the time and days can get rather long with little ones at home all day. So to give me incentive to get my work done and the kids to let me, we had a habit of taking “THE WALK” every day. You might wonder about the parts store but when your husband is a farmer, you are and get parts for the tractors – AND our old cars frequently broke down!! When the housework was done and the girls all had their hair up in pony tails and their little fluffy dresses on, we would take the walk. We ended at the grocery store to get a few things for dinner AND always, a little treat. Well this went on for quite some time until Daddy took her to the store and, of course she expected her treat. Daddy said that maybe I should not let her get something every time because she thinks now that she has to have it.
I reluctantly agreed (after all, I usually got a treat too!). So the next day when we went to the store she went to get her treat and I told her we weren’t going to get one this time. She took it quite well, never prone to tantrums or the such. Oh, I should add here that she was not quite 3 and could not pronounce all her words.
Nuffin
Well the rest of the day went normally but when Daddy walked through the door that nite she RAN to him and said “we went to the store today, and you know what we got?” not waiting for a reply, because she just knew he could NEVER guess this one, she blurted out, “NUFFIN!!”
She was quite sure that daddy would take care of her problem for her. Normally that would have been right (and he did say, “Well once in a while is ok”). This time he was not the answer to the resolution but she had known who she had the best shot with.
Through the years with COMPASS Sadie has learned who to go to for help. At first it was finding the people in the Regional Centers that could help her get the agency started. Later it was Coaches to help her and our employees to be able to deal with the stress of being leaders. Also she studied companies that are known for having good relationships with their employees and good policies, i.e. Disney, In & Out, etc. She read what they had to say, and implemented what would work for COMPASS. Twenty years later she is still learning from those that have succeeded in business. If you have gone to a training you know that she is still imparting what she learns to staff and sometimes clients.