Anjelica was baptized last month on Long Island. We don’t belong to any Catholic church but the Father at the church where Lou’s dad had worked hesitantly agreed to perform the Christening, with Nico and my one Catholic sister as Godparents. After the ceremony we held a nice private dinner at a nearby restaurant with several friends and both of our families. Lou did not invite his sister.
We’ve settled into this parent thing fairly well after all. Lou seems happier. I almost feel like we had two babies this year: Anjelica and our book, Frontline Teamwork, One Company’s Story of Success,[1] dedicated “to the spirit of Howard Roark,” which, I suppose is fitting for Lou. Both of our names are listed as co-authors of the book, but he never asks me to sign when we send out autographed copies. It’s all about the consulting business anyway, so it doesn’t matter that much, but it would be nice to be recognized for my contributions. Lou’s obsessed with book sales. We bought some cases to sell ourselves. I tell him not to worry about the profit margin on each book, but to just focus on getting it out there. The profit will come from the consulting business he’ll get as a published author and recognized authority in his field, yet he counts every penny.
He tracks our finances the same way. Every month, he updates a spreadsheet with current stock prices and values for each investment, and every dollar in every account, and adds a data point to our net worth chart to track exactly where we are financially. He has another chart for cumulative income from his consulting business. His monthly income chart, if he made one, would show that some months and years are much lower than others. He likes the charts that go up, up, up. Every month he shows me the net worth charts and I say how great it is. And just about every month he reads me and points out in amazement that I really don’t care. I know we have enough money, and that based on what we have coming in and what we spend, we are fine. When we didn’t have enough, I worked more hours and extra jobs to make sure we got by. I don’t find happiness in money or things. We have the best educations we could get, I have a great job, he has his own successful business, we have two nice cars, a beautiful house, low debt, and enough income to pay a full-time nanny to take care of our daughter at home. I don’t need a chart to show me that we are financially in good shape. There’s more to life than our bank account, but no chart for any of it.
[1] Frontline Teamwork: One Company’s Story of Success, by Louis W. Joy III and Jo A. Joy, Business One Irwin/McGraw Hill Companies, July 1993