Never Give Up! Enjoy the Adventure!
Have you faced impossible odds?
?????How did you solve the predicament?
??????????Did you give up??
?Let me encourage you.
Two weeks after Hurricane Celia …
????I was back in Corpus Christi.?
Celia had hit the Texas Gulf Coast on August 3, 1970.?At that time, it was dubbed “the costliest hurricane in the state’s history.”
Most important to me was that it hit one day before we were to open Chick-fil-A’s seventh restaurant in Padre Staples Mall.?It was the first in Texas.
Mass destruction by Celia and delays in getting utility service made it impossible to predict when we could get the restaurant open.
The unpredictable delays forced me to take my family back home.?It was close to time for our three children to get back to school.
Before we left, the owner of the motel where we were staying agreed to reserve a room for me when I returned.?After Celia, it was one of only a few hotels and motels with rooms that were fit to occupy.?The windows of the rooms we were renting were all broken, but we had covered them with cardboard and duct tape.
After taking my family home, I came back to Corpus Christi a few days later.
I was back in town to get that restaurant open in Padre Staples Mall!
There was no room at the motel!?
Government and recovery personnel had taken all the occupiable rooms.
There were no rooms available … anywhere!
I prayed and searched and … ?would not …?
Never Give Up!
Finally, I remembered that one of my prospects for the franchise of the Chick-fil-A restaurant, was the manager of a motel on the North side of the Harbor Bridge.?I went to see her.
When I arrived at the Sea Shell Inn Motel, it looked like the roof was missing from the entire second floor, but I ...
Never Give Up!
I went in to see the manager … maybe she would rent me a room … on the first floor.
She wanted to help but … all of the first floor rooms were occupied and she was not expecting any one to leave soon.
Never Give Up!
I asked if any of the second floor rooms had a roof.?Her reply,
“There is no roof.?Some of the rooms have almost no damage but the wind took the roof off.”
I asked, “Would you let me take a look at those rooms?”
She gave me a master key and I went up to the second floor and started looking at the rooms.?I found one that looked totally undamaged except …
领英推荐
????it had no roof!?
The electricity and air conditioner worked.?The grid for the lay-in ceiling tiles was complete.?I looked around and found enough usable ceiling tiles to cover the room.
Never Give Up!
I came down and asked her to rent me the room in its “as is” condition.?After going and looking for herself, she helped me put a dry mattress and sheets on the bed, and ?…
?????she rented me the room!
I occupied that room for about a week.?Every night I called my wife, Oleta.?She had difficulty picturing my special room, especially when I described how when the wind would blow very hard … my ceiling tiles would flutter.
Flutter … flutter … flip … flip!?
Sometimes one would flutter too much, and it was …
Flutter … flutter … flip … then flop on the floor!
When that happened, I had a nice view of the stars before I went to sleep.
My prayers had been answered!?I …
Never Give Up!
Oleta came back to Corpus Christi to help open the restaurant.?The day she was to arrive I finally was able to find a room with a roof for us.
After checking us into a room with a roof at another motel, I went to the mall to finish getting the Chick-fil-A restaurant ready to open.?She and Bonnie, the franchisee’s wife, went to …
???the room with no roof …
???????to get my luggage and take it to …
???????????the room in a motel with a roof.
Oleta will confirm that I had the pleasure to stay …
?????in a room with no roof!
There is always a way!
Never Give Up!
You don't want to miss the adventure, and ...
the stories you can tell your grandchildren!
--- Jimmy Collins
Like ideas for your stories? My latest book?Jimmy’s Stories ?is available on Amazon.?
Career advancing principles are in my book,?Creative Followership is available on Amazon.
Training Director
1 年I love your story about the missing roof! It gave me a good laugh! That is perseverance at its best! I have to laugh I tell my boys all The time we never give up! Things may never look the way we anticipate it and if we allow what our circumstances look like to stop us we will never move forward in life. You are so right that’s where the adventure and the great stories come into play. I have quite a few of these stories to share!!
Design | Installation | Service for new (LED) and existing Landscape Lighting services by professional teams of electricians who climb trees
1 年We call this room Cowboy Cool in Texas. Never give up and… but God contribute to many successful overcomings.
The Tick Terminator
1 年Great story. I have stayed in some really bad drafty, cold, miserable rooms that felt like indoor camping but never with out a roof. Lol you got me on this one!
Film Producer & Film Distribution A Native American Entertainment Company
1 年Thanks for sharing this encouraging story to “Never Give Up” my friend!
DNJETC
1 年Never Give Up is a trait few have, but, tenacity is required if you are ever going to accomplish something worthwhile! Great story Jimmy! Thank you for sharing.