The mother of Reinvention

My sister Betsy posted this poster on Facebook today. It's oh so true, right? You can't stop it. Change can be like a tidal wave - something big. Or change takes place as subtly as the tide. You're enjoying sunbathing and the next thing you know, waves are lapping up against your towel.

That's why, in my opinion, we need to learn to reinvent ourselves - or that tide just might go over our heads. It's true for individuals, teams, restaurants, towns, anything really. You can't stay the same and expect to succeed just because you are successful right now. It's likely others are checking you out aiming to overtake you as you read this!

I was pondering this while driving recently. I thought about Pizza Hut. The restaurant used to be IT in Atlantic, Iowa, my hometown. It was our town's first restaurant franchise, I think - opening in the early 1970's on Highway 6. It was run by the Ortiz family. Rick Ortiz (unpolitically correctly called "Taco" by classmates) was in my class. His father, he and his sister Renee all worked at the restaurant. Rick and I briefly "went together" in about 9th grade. I don't think we even held hands or went to a movie. Guess it didn't take! He worked a lot. At Pizza Hut.

I loved Pizza Hut! Thin and Crispy Pepperoni and a salad with Italian dressing. Betsy liked that creamy Italian so much she licked the bowl. The other prime menu offering was their Italian Hoagie sandwich- crispy Italian bread with pepperoni, Canadian Bacon lettuce and that same dressing - put through the pizza oven. Dang that was good. They'd wrap it in a foil bag if you purchased it "to-go".

Pizza Hut was king of the hill. There was no competition. I liked the oil cloth table coverings - old Italy look. They featured frosty mugs for beer. Of course I was about 15 years old - beer was out for a while. But I lusted in my heart. Pizza Hut rested on their laurels and they could afford to back then. Then in the 1980's few other companies came out that hawk pizza. PepsiCo purchased Pizza Hut.

Pizza Hut discontinued the Hoagie (knucklehead idea if you ask me), but continues to come out with new and different types of pizza. They added wings - yum! Restaurants need to continually reinvent themselves. The chain has had some staying power. Look at Olive Garden and Red Lobster - struggling. And they're much younger chains. People still pack them in here in DSM at those chains - but they must have lost their luster elsewhere. By now, Pizza Hut has too. Too much competition. And no Hoagie.

Betsy works as a sales rep for the Longaberger Company. That company started by marketing wooden baskets - I first became aware of them in the 1980's. That company has branched out to many other types of products through the years. I have their pottery and several baskets. Betso gave us a very nice knife for Christmas. Nice stuff.
http://www.longaberger.com/ourProducts.aspx

People reinvent themselves too. Often it's by necessity - the stages in one's life. College graduation, marriage - and a big one: parenthood. Hey, knucklehead - you're someone's mommy now. Start acting all, um, parental. Too bad there's no nurture switch to flip.

I should have had a makeover - reinventing my hair. Oooh that mullet

I enjoyed the makeover to "empty nester". Beyond those defined changes in my life, there were other times that I knew I needed to change. After Jud was born,  I decided my career as a banker was over - I would work part time and stay home with the kids. I delivered oxygen to people in their homes and in nursing homes for a friend's business. Hey - it wasn't something I'd ever dreamed of doing, but it helped us make ends meet. We could send the kids to the sitter less often. (that's probably why they're a bit off kilter now that I think of it...) haha.

Through that time period I knew I needed to find "my calling". I visited our community college to figure out just what it was. I took a test to point me in the right direction and briefly considered attending grad school for a masters degree in library science. Then I looked at those two kids who would also need college degrees someday and decided spending lots of $ on more school for me wasn't the thing to do. Luckily I fell into a job as an environmental educator - and invented a career for myself in that industry.

When I went to work in the big city I upgraded my landfill clothes and hair too. But I'm still me - I'll never be a high maintenance kinda gal - so most people didn't even notice the change. The next two weeks I'll be taking classes in WordPress. I like to keep learning. I even dragged Paul into the Ballroom dance thing.

Yes, sometimes I'd like things to stay the same. I get pissy about change. I've not adapted to Netflix. We've got changes coming at work with two sections joining the Land Quality Bureau. That means more people are moving onto our side of 5th Floor of the Wallace building.  While I get to stay in the cubicle I moved to a few months ago, nearly everyone else in our section is moving around me. Everyone I work with is a buzz with talk of the changes. Theresa Stiner was coughing today and jokingly, Mike Smith said, "if you croak, I get your cubicle." Yes, we're all pulling together...