Saved by Accountability

Does anyone even know what this is? It is an old fashioned adding machine. It was my Granddad’s.? I had it prominently displayed in my office as a CEO for more than 20 years. To me this adding machine symbolizes ?the power of change and the unexpected.

I was absentmindedly unpacking boxes in my new home office in preparation to have the kids home for summer vacation. As I hefted the old machine out of the box, it wiped the mists off a corner of a memory.

Grandad was the wisest and kindest person in my life. He was a touchstone to me as well as to many others as an elder of his church and as an entrepreneur who started an employment agency to help retired service men and women find a job after they were not in uniform.

What I did not know, is that Paul Arthur Ogle was a honest-to-goodness swagger filled, fighter pilot.

My grandparents let this (to me) family secret out of the closet when I was sitting next to my Grandad in his hospital bed that we had setup in the living room. I was perched there asking him questions to keep his mind off his pain.? He started in his almost ploddingly slow voice, rich with native Oklahoman accent as he did what he had done my entire life, he told me a story, a true story.?

Paul and Mary Lee were just married (both in their late 20's) and the war had broken out. He was in the Army Air Corps as a fighter pilot. His storytelling had a very “top gun” vibe and it sounded daring and fun.? All this from my mild mannered and quiet spoken Granddad.

Granny popped her head in from the kitchen to tell me all about her car that was all packed up with their life and she drove herself from base to base in the big-block Chevy as his career in the Army Air Corps thrived.? She laughed as she said how much she HATED modern gas stations, and how she remembered driving around the country with full service gas attendants who pumped her gasoline, washed the windshield and checked the air in the tires for her.?

Paul received notice that his squadron was being deployed to Europe.? The guys were all excited and the wives doubled their prayer schedule as anxiety mounted.? They looked at each other in that moment and I could see the energy zinging between them. They were sharing years of their life with each glance. It was lovely and terrifying as they were facing his agonizing and slow death by cancer, as they had done everything else for the last 50 years, together.

The night before the squadron was to leave for the front, Paul Arthur Ogle got called into his squadron leader’s office.? He was asked if it was true that he had trained as an accountant.

Paul shrugged his shoulders and asked with a grin, “Well, yes sir, do you have something you need counted?”? “Yes sir, Ogle, we do. While I am sad to see you go, you are being transferred to admin.”

Paul was devastated, but the young Mary Lee was secretly sure her prayers had been answered.? Her new husband would not be going off to war. His job for the war effort was shifted from flying jets and dropping bombs to managing logistics and budget appropriations.?

It was soon reported that his squadron was decimated in their offensive.? Our family’s timeline was saved by the click and clack of the adding machine.

Sometimes the unexpected turns our world upside down, and then shakes us, sometimes then drops us on our head. We don’t get the job we trained and worked so hard for. People don’t appreciate our capabilities and we are laid off or let go. The one we think should love us with all their heart, does not. A tragic accident takes someone away from us unexpectedly or a sickness steals our health.?

My Grandad constantly reminded me to take a breath and be patient. He encouraged hard work and the joy of a job well done. He taught me that customers could be partners if they were made to care. He reminded me to be grateful, even for the difficult things in my path, because of the unknown blessings that path was bringing to me, if only I would be patient enough to wait for the bounty to come. Above all else, he encouraged me to take risks and seize every opportunity, because it was easier to live with loss than with regret.

Memorial Day weekend is a weekend I would often have spent with my grandparents.? It was the beginning of summer and the joy of free time was only eclipsed by the joy of the 2 weeks I would get to spend with them after the lake handoff. I remember the fun I had with Grandad and Granny at work in their small employment agency. ?She had an amazing big brown IBM typewriter she used to type out every application and invoice.? I remember the soothing sound of her fingers moving over the keyboard and the bell sound of the return key.? He kept up with the times and had computers and digital printers, she held to carbon paper and liquid white out.?

Now I find myself full circle, back at the same lake I grew up at, with my own kids enjoying the first days of summer.

I thank you and I thank the people in my family who have served to fight for our freedom this Memorial Day. The freedom to speak our minds, and the freedom to be who we choose to be.?

I know there are obstacles in life that don’t add up or make sense.

In my own household I see the result of those obstacles in some powerful young humans who are resilient to deal with the unexpected, the unkind, even the pathological. They choose a life of hope and help over of bitterness and blame.

That old adding machine makes me think of accountability. We are all accountable for what and who we choose do be, no matter the curves life throws at us.

What are you grateful for today? Do you have a family vacation spot that brings back fond memories? Please share with us in the comments below.

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Vanessa Ogle Copyright Pending 2024 All Rights Reserved

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