Rebuilding after Financial Crisis and Bankruptcy in a Recession (Part 5)

This is an ongoing post in the series Surviving the Lien Years – Rebuilding after Financial Crisis and Bankruptcy in a Recession.  Risking it All is part five in the series.

In January of 1999, Lee began working on his business plan in earnest and was up and running with a new company with 2 business partners 3 months later in March.  He was literally getting up to go the office at 4:00 in the morning and coming home at night around 9:00 PM.  He put everything into the company.  By everything I mean everything.  We signed the collateral in our house as a loan for the company and the stock options I had earned from THD were put up as collateral as well.  He put all his time and energy into the company.  It paid off.  The company became successful and began growing rather quickly.

Things were going so well for the company that in July, 1999, Lee and I took our first real week long vacation.  We went to the Disney Institute, where we took several classes, visited a few parks, saw the Space Shuttle launch, and spent time at the beach.  It was wonderful, exhausting, and relaxing.

In the fall of 1999, we dumped birth control and began trying to get pregnant.  And trying. And trying.  Nothing became of these tries.  While it was disappointing that we did not get pregnant on our timeline, we just continued to work long hours, volunteer, and enjoy our life.  I was able to do the Breast Cancer 3 Day, which is a 60 mile walk over the course of 3 days for 2 years in a row.  I was also able to volunteer on President Bush’s first Presidential election and to go to Florida to help with the recount.  In January, 2001, I was able to attend the Inaugural Festivities of President George W. Bush.  Lee did not go because he was in Colorado on a business retreat.

After being married for almost 9 years, I left THD in April, 2001.  My primary motivating factor for leaving was because we had been trying to get pregnant for nearly 2 years and had been unsuccessful.  We knew something was wrong but did not know what or how long it would ultimately take to become pregnant.  What I did know was that I did not want all my (mostly male) co-workers to learn about these intimate details of my life.  We had planned our finances with the ultimate goal in mind that I could stop working to become a Stay-At-Home-Mom.  Since according to our plans, we should have already been able to allow me to quit working, we had the financial means for me to stop and the motivation as well.  Lee thought in addition to the upcoming doctor visits that it would be extremely helpful to him if I was home throughout the day.  He was working 60+ hours a week and did not have the energy or the inclination to come home to do laundry, cook, clean, etc.  It would be easier if he knew that many of these tasks were taken care of and I was ready for a break from corporate America anyway.

My grandmother’s death and Lee’s business startup prepared us for what was truly our first major life hurdle and life let down.  We had set goals and worked hard to achieve them throughout our marriage.  While my grandmother’s death was difficult for us, she was “old” and it is somewhat normal in a life cycle for grandparents to die.  So, here we were in our large house with lots of bedrooms waiting to be filled.

As we began treatments for infertility, Lee bought out one of his business partners and racked up some debt in the process.  While things on the fertility front were not very good for us, his business was doing well.  He brought on new staff to help grow the business.

The fertility treatments were nightmares.  The hormones were wreaking havoc on my body emotionally and physically.  With each passing month and negative pregnancy test results, my depression, anger, and frustration over being unable to reproduce grew.  That depression, naturally, intensified in the wake of the terror attacks on 9-11.  I seriously considered giving up on trying to conceive and instead enlisting in the military.  In the end, Lee convinced me that was not the right decision for our lives or for me physically.

As with many American businesses after the terror attacks on 9-11, Lee’s business suffered financially.  We had to reinvest money we had saved into the company to keep it afloat.  The company was not strong enough to support a week of America being shutdown.  We really never stopped to think twice about re-investing our money into the company.  The company needed it, the thousands of people he was employing in through is temporary company needed it, and it seemed like the right thing to do.  We probably should have stopped to think twice about it.  At this point, we no longer had much savings and our entire financial portfolio was tied up in 1 stream of income.

Our marriage grew stronger during this time as we had to face various medical and life decisions.  Lee was a solid rock for me during this trying period.  I could barley watch a baptism at church without falling apart emotionally but he stood by me every step of the way.  If I had to leave church or a movie or any other event early because of my emotions, he was right there helping me out the door before I broke down into tears.  I became a master at evading questions about family planning.  What business was it of other’s anyway!?  While silently and privately I was in hell, outwardly I did the best I could to keep a positive attitude.  Keeping that positive attitude and training myself to compartmentalize was preparing me for greater challenges in the years to come.

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