Unveiling the Story of My Mom: Life as a Hairstylist, Daycare Provider, and Family Matriarch

Debra Coleman [00:00:00]:
Well, hello, and welcome back to another mini cast episode of Have A Seat Conversations with Women in the Workplace podcast. I am your host with the mostest, Deb Coleman. Welcome to another mini cast episode. I know that this is another one right on the heels of one that I did last week, but I hope you'll pardon the interruption. You know, usually, I would have another fabulous interview lined up for you. And trust me, I have so many lined up in the books. I'm so excited. But because we are you know, we just celebrated Mother's Day here in the in the United States, in the Northern Hemisphere, I wanted to selfishly take a second and just replay an episode that I recorded with my own mom, Emma Jean.

Debra Coleman [00:00:53]:
I did this interview right when I started podcasting. So forgive, like, maybe the audio levels aren't perfect or, you know, it might be a little long in the tooth a little bit because, you know, you're interviewing your mom and you kinda forget about, like, all the things, all the rules, the podcasting rules. But she was such a trooper to be one of my early guests to support my, you know, her crazy daughter's, podcasting hobby. So and not to mention, it was just so neat to have, like, my mom's life on record, what she shared, you know, some of the stories I knew, some of the some I didn't. And it was just really fun even though as her daughter, you know, I I sat down to talk with her, but it was also fascinating coming from, like, a podcast perspective as well, like, host to guest, you know, that kind of thing. So it was really fun on so many levels and so inspiring and just I just loved it. I adore it. I just thank you, mom, so much for doing this for me in the early stages of my podcast.

Debra Coleman [00:01:57]:
And, also, I just completely adore the fact that now we have my mom's story on record forever, and I just cherish and adore it so much. So, if you will, again, pardon the interruption. And without further ado, here is the sorry. A car just went by. Here is my conversation. A replay of my conversation with my fabulous mother, Emma Jean Jorgensen. Hello, everyone. And welcome back to a special episode of have a seat conversations with women in the workplace podcast.

Debra Coleman [00:02:43]:
I am your host, Deborah Coleman. And today, I am so excited, because in celebration of Mother's Day, I am interviewing my very own mama. I'm so excited. My mom, currently lives with my sister and her family in California, and, she is not the most, like, tech savvy individual out there. So the fact that we, my sister and I, with the help of my sister, thank you, thank you, Sandy, we were able to pull this off, get mom, you know, headphones, microphone, in front of the laptop, a miracle in itself. So very exciting. Again, in celebration of mother's day, I wanted to honor my mom by having her as a guest, and so the show is airing this week and, it's just it's a quick simple fun show. Again, some things I knew that my mom talked about, but other things I didn't.

Debra Coleman [00:03:36]:
So it was really cool to hear some new and fun things about my mom. It was also really cool to kind of take a stroll down memory lane a little bit and kind of relive some of those early memories when I was younger and, when she did, you know, pivot from being a full time hairdresser, because it was hairdresser back then, so don't don't write don't email me, all you stylists out there. It was hairdresser back in the day, to a full time daycare provider with back in the seventies eighties when that just was so new. It was so new. So anyway, I'll let I won't say anymore. I'll let my mom tell it, in her own unique way. And so sit back, relax, and enjoy a special Mother's Day episode with Have A Seat, Conversations With Women in the Workplace. Hello, mom, and welcome to my show.

Debra Coleman [00:04:26]:
You're you're the first first time as my guest here, and I'm so excited. How are you today?

Mom [00:04:31]:
I'm good. I'm excited too. This is gonna be fun.

Debra Coleman [00:04:36]:
Yeah. So I wanted to do a show with that featured you for Mother's Day. And, so I yeah. So this is a neat this is my mom is not very technologically up, so this is exciting that we have her on a microphone

Mom [00:04:53]:
ready to talk. Okay.

Debra Coleman [00:04:56]:
So I thought we just start by maybe you, telling us a little bit about, like, what how you what you first did when after you graduated high school, what you, went into. I think it was it was beauty school shortly after that. So I thought you could just take us from from there and kinda tell us how you got to that stage first of all.

Mom [00:05:18]:
Okay. I'll just start with, finishing high school

Debra Coleman [00:05:22]:
Okay.

Mom [00:05:22]:
Which is a lot of fun. And Yeah. Miss my friends and everything, but it was it was a good time. My high school was a good time. From there, I went to college just for 1 year. I went to SC because that's where my brother went to school and and all through school graduated, got his master's and everything at SC. Well, he used to write home and tell me what fun things he was doing, and he was in a fraternity and all the parties and stuff and jamming sessions. He he, was a musician, and he had music and friends.

Mom [00:05:59]:
Anyway, made it sound so much fun, and I didn't really have any plans after high school. So I decided that's where I wanted to go to college, at least for a year. And, my my mom and dad, sent me to SC for, a year, which was a lot of fun. I joined a sorority, and I wasn't at at, at college with my brother because he had graduated, 4 years before me. Anyway, I joined a sorority. Just made some really good friends and had a lot of fun. So after the 1st year, my mom said, if I wanted to, they would send me, they would let me go for another year. Well, in the meantime, my cousin Linda was saving her money to go to beauty school, and she took me into going to beauty school with her.

Mom [00:07:03]:
So, that was a good thing. It was a good career for many years. I went to we went to beauty school in Long Beach, for a year. How long it takes a year? And then we graduated. And, after that, I worked, in a beauty shop. See, that was from 57. So, I forget. I think it's 76, I think.

Mom [00:07:33]:
Anyway, it was a long time, and I worked in different places, different shops. And let me think. Okay. Well, in 56 no. 57, I got married. I still work. I, had a family. Raised my kids, 3 kids, kept working in the beauty shop.

Mom [00:08:07]:
And then in, and when when my kids were still little, I and I had a babysitter who turned out to be a good friend, Betty. She was my babysitter, and I I could see what a good job she had. I talked to her about doing day care, and she, gave me a lot of tips. And that's when I started day care. That was I don't remember. I have to stop and think about

Debra Coleman [00:08:43]:
That's okay.

Mom [00:08:44]:
Yeah. Anyway, I was doing daycare when my kids were little. Well, I had you were a baby. I had you at home, and and your brother and sister were in elementary school. And, when we lived in Yorba Linda, you could walk to school with other kids. So I did day care from that time on up until I retired. I just I don't remember the dates. I remember I worked at that for 29 years and a lot of kids over the years, and it was good.

Mom [00:09:24]:
I I really enjoyed being home. That way, I got to be home with my kids, and, I really enjoyed taking care of kids. Anyway so that was until, 80 yeah. I forget the dates. But, anyway, I retired from that when I was, 68. Actually, I retired. I started collecting Social Security at at 865, But I like my job so much. I I didn't need to quit.

Mom [00:10:04]:
I worked 3 more years after I was retired. And, so after I retired, the and my kids were grown. They were out of the house, mostly going to college, and my son got married and started his own family. But, anyway, they were out of the house, so I rented, I rented a room. And I had borders, for another few years. Sandy, my older daughter, and her family lived in Anaheim, but it was really only 2 miles from where I lived in Yorba Linda. It was on the boundary. And, they live close enough where we saw each other all the time, and, she raised her 3 kids there.

Mom [00:11:01]:
Started the kid started as her family there, but it's, after a while, we, I would visit there. The the kids would come home, spend the night with me. We were, close. Anyway and one day, when we were talking, Sandy just suggested or just thought of it, thought of something. She said, we should live together. Because by that time, I was in the house by myself after the last border left. I didn't have anybody to rent to. And, you know, I had this big house, not so big.

Mom [00:11:48]:
It was average. But, anyway, I had the house to myself. And so Sandy said, well, we should all live together. And I thought, well, that sounds okay. That sounds good. I didn't mind living alone, but I thought, well, you know, in the future, it would be nice to have family. That's family. We're together.

Debra Coleman [00:12:09]:
So let's go back a bit to when you decided to go to beauty school. Was it when you decided to do that, was it because you just didn't really like college or you just kinda thought beauty school sounded more exciting than what you were currently doing, or had you already

Mom [00:12:27]:
Yeah. That too. But, actually, I enjoyed college, but I still didn't know what I wanted to do. Okay. Because it, as a freshman, it took, easy subject, freshman requirements and, you know, not no. I wasn't working toward any career or anything. I was just going to college and having a good time. Yeah.

Mom [00:12:53]:
And, and then I thought I thought I was gonna go another year until my cousin talked me into going to beauty school. Well, then when I told my mom about it, she and my cousin and I went to Long Beach and searched around. Well, I had already decided which beauty school in Long Beach. I think there were 3 at the time. But, mom helped us find an apartment, where I lived with my cousin in Long Beach. And, yeah, it was it was good, a good decision.

Debra Coleman [00:13:34]:
Was it the same school that your cousin was going to?

Mom [00:13:36]:
Yes. We went to school together. You know?

Debra Coleman [00:13:38]:
Okay.

Mom [00:13:40]:
Every morning and, you know, for a year, fill in our hours. But once in a while, we'd we'd play hooky. We'd skip school and go to the beach.

Debra Coleman [00:13:51]:
Of course. You're right there.

Mom [00:13:53]:
Yeah. We were in Long Beach. So and it was beautiful. And walking distance, everything was really neat. You know?

Debra Coleman [00:14:02]:
I bet. Yeah. 2 single girls living in Long Beach, going to beauty school. Yeah. The world is your oyster.

Mom [00:14:09]:
Yeah. And we both got part time jobs, so we have a little income. We we worked at one of the movie theaters. Oh. I never was a cashier. I just worked be, behind the concession counter, and so did Glendale. We didn't always have the same shift, but, and still wait a minute. I think everything was walking distance.

Mom [00:14:32]:
No. By that time, I did have a car. My mom and dad got me a a little used Plymouth that, that we used. And, anyway, got

Debra Coleman [00:14:46]:
Oh, wow.

Mom [00:14:46]:
Got through beauty school. And

Debra Coleman [00:14:49]:
And that was only a year? You only had to do beauty school for a year?

Mom [00:14:51]:
Even even now, beauty school, to get a license in California, it's 1600 hours. So, really, if we went all the time, it was 9 months. So it took us 10 months.

Debra Coleman [00:15:04]:
But

Mom [00:15:04]:
it was just continuing. You just go and and, make up your hours. Mhmm.

Debra Coleman [00:15:10]:
Did you like it? Did when you were learning it, did you think, oh, yeah. This is pretty cool. Okay.

Mom [00:15:15]:
Yeah. It was. And it was so nice, talking to the ladies, most mostly older ladies would come to this beauty school to get their hairs their done.

Debra Coleman [00:15:25]:
Yep.

Mom [00:15:26]:
Yeah. So and we graduated then, and, both of us went to work in a beauty shop still in Long Beach.

Debra Coleman [00:15:35]:
Was it hard to find a job, or was it pretty easy

Mom [00:15:39]:
Let me think.

Debra Coleman [00:15:40]:
In the beauty salon? Yeah.

Mom [00:15:43]:
Actually well, Linda went back home to San Clemente, and, she knew people there and everything. She knew beauty, beauty shop owners that she went to work for. And I stayed in Long Beach, and 2 of my, really good, friends, coast no. What do you call it? Students. Anyway, they it was, Nona and John in beauty school went together, ended up getting married, having a family, and, he and they opened up, beauty salon there in Long Beach, and that's what my first job. I think that was my first job. Yeah. Anyway Wow.

Mom [00:16:32]:
I went to work for them and the 3 of us, and, just one other guy worked in the shop. Don't even remember his name, but it was so long ago. And, you know, I built up a clientele. I had really nice customers and, moved there for several years, met married, a a guy named Jim. Anyway, and a year later, had a baby, But I always worked. I I found, you know, I found a babysitter, went back to work. I was still working for Steve. And Did

Debra Coleman [00:17:14]:
you work just during the day primarily? You didn't do, like, any okay. That's good.

Mom [00:17:19]:
No. I don't think I worked night.

Debra Coleman [00:17:22]:
Must have been nice because you were in a shop, so there were probably set hours, not like you were on your own.

Mom [00:17:27]:
Yeah. It was just, you know, like a 9 to 5 job. Yeah. Go to work in the morning and, then I would take my lunch, and there was 1st restaurant around there that, you know, we where we could get our lunch.

Debra Coleman [00:17:43]:
Yeah.

Mom [00:17:44]:
And then, go home, and and, my husband is working, had a babysitter, and, you know, just a normal everyday life. Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. It was good.

Debra Coleman [00:18:00]:
Then later on, later on, you transitioned to the JCPenney hair salon?

Mom [00:18:06]:
That's what I did. Yeah. Because, let me think. When I I quit working wait a minute. I I did stay home for a little bit with the baby, but then I went back to work. Well, you know, as you know, living in Southern California takes 2 salaries. So my husband and I both worked and had a babysitter. And then yeah.

Mom [00:18:32]:
And then after I had moved my husband and I worked, I mean, moved to, Garden Grove and bought a house there. And, that's when I, I didn't go back to work right away. But when I did go back to work, I went to, JCPenney. Had a Oh. A nice, salon in their store and, just worked there until, okay, until till 1976. That's when I started daycare, in my home.

Debra Coleman [00:19:19]:
That's right.

Mom [00:19:19]:
Yeah.

Debra Coleman [00:19:20]:
That and back then well, really quickly, when you were doing hair, did you have a favorite that you liked to do? Like, were you a perm girl, or were you did you like to do colors? I mean, did you was there a certain service that you kind of liked more than others?

Mom [00:19:35]:
Actually, I think I like haircutting the most and and Just haircutting. Yeah. But I I really do like doing everything. Haircut, colors. I even like manicures. Some of the operators didn't like doing manicures, but the people the, clients were so nice. I think I might have in all my clientele, I think I might have had 2, witches? It's just you know, that that

Debra Coleman [00:20:08]:
You can say that's okay.

Mom [00:20:09]:
Never happy. You know? And Yeah. And even even when I was on vacation and somebody else took my, took my clients, well, most of them knew that I was coming back. So they were nice to the the, my subs, except a couple that just found all the time, and you couldn't place them. And then I got to thinking, oh, well, most of my clients, like me. They kept me well. And so what if not everybody liked me? But most everybody liked me. I it was a good job there.

Debra Coleman [00:20:47]:
Yeah.

Mom [00:20:47]:
Mhmm. Yeah. Wow. And I did that until I decided to stay home and babysit. And, yeah, and take care of my kids and, other people's kids.

Debra Coleman [00:20:59]:
Now you if if I remember correctly, you did that after dad you and dad divorced, and you were a single mom raising 3 kids, still doing hair, but then you decided, you know what? Like you said, you saw your friend what your friend Betty was doing, and you're like, hey. I can stay home and make money.

Mom [00:21:16]:
Yes. That's how it was. That's how it worked. Yep. So,

Debra Coleman [00:21:22]:
And back then in the mid to late seventies, the at home day care was still relatively a new thing. I mean, to the extent that you did it, like, you got licensed, you had kids, and yeah. It was like a business.

Mom [00:21:33]:
Well, it was a business because, so many women were, going to work. Like I said, we would take 2 salaries. So Mhmm. You know, all my, my day care parents were, double income, you know, and Yeah. Women had to work, and I became friends with the moms too. And one thing that was really neat is I started going to the beach. I love living near the beach. Anyway, on Fridays, for some reason, I only had, like, 1 or 2 kids.

Mom [00:22:15]:
I would take them to the beach, and sometime the mom would go with me. And then when Sandy got married and had kids, she'd go to the beach with me. She had a job that she was off on Friday. It was so neat. For several years, we went to the beach every Friday with kids. I'd love to go on to the beach.

Debra Coleman [00:22:35]:
That is really neat that you were able to

Mom [00:22:37]:
Yeah.

Debra Coleman [00:22:38]:
Load them up, and I remember those days. Load them up, put them in the back of their truck, and there we went off to the beach.

Mom [00:22:43]:
Off to the beach with the lights and yeah.

Debra Coleman [00:22:47]:
Yeah. I ate a lot of sand sandwiches back then. I remember. Yeah.

Mom [00:22:53]:
Yeah. It

Debra Coleman [00:22:54]:
was hard to eat sandwiches on the beach.

Mom [00:22:56]:
Yeah. Yeah. But, and there were 2 beaches. So we go down to Newport, straight down the freeway, and then continue on to Newport. And when we were in town, when we got to the ocean, the the ocean was on the right. The bay was on the left. Well, when the kids were little, we always went to the bay. There was one little section, maybe 2 blocks long, where, where it's oh, they call it Mother's Beach, and it was not crowded.

Mom [00:23:31]:
And the people you'd see were moms with little kids. That's why they call it Mother's Beach. And the reason I like the Bay because when the kids were little, they could just go so far. Of course, I was there watching them all the time, and they never got, adventurous to go in any farther, you know, than they could walk. And there weren't waves to knock them down. And, like, when they were older and went to the ocean, they could swim, and we do have to really watch that they didn't go too far. And then waves would knock them down. But they were older.

Mom [00:24:10]:
They could handle it. They'd Yeah. Get right up and get back in the water. Right. So over the years, I had 2 beaches to go to.

Debra Coleman [00:24:19]:
Not bad. Yeah. Not bad. Not a bad problem to have.

Mom [00:24:22]:
It was fun. It was fun. Yeah.

Debra Coleman [00:24:24]:
One thing I always thought was cool when you started or, you know, about your daycare business was that you got to be a mom to so many kids, especially let's just say you raised half of your Belinda. I mean, there are there's probably you'd be hard to find a kid that you didn't babysit at some point in their life. Yeah. But you got to I mean, which is kinda sad too because the moms but you got to see a lot of first steps. You got to, you

Mom [00:24:52]:
know, we Talking. Talking. Because I babysit from, infants on up.

Debra Coleman [00:24:59]:
Yeah. You

Mom [00:24:59]:
know, like, mom said stop to have a baby. I was taking care of 1 kid, and the mom was pregnant with the second or whatever. They might only have 3 to 6 weeks maternity leave. And I took the babies after that right from, you know, infancy. Wow. And, I could see I saw some of them grow up, and and, even after they went to, high school, I kept in touch with the kids, with the moms.

Debra Coleman [00:25:33]:
Oh, yeah.

Mom [00:25:34]:
Yeah. I

Debra Coleman [00:25:34]:
remember all the Christmas cards you would get, so many Christmas cards.

Mom [00:25:38]:
Yeah. You

Debra Coleman [00:25:38]:
know? Yeah. Like, especially if they happen to move away, they'd

Mom [00:25:41]:
still send you cards. You can touch. Yeah.

Debra Coleman [00:25:43]:
Yeah. Exactly. But what's also cool about your day care business was that you also took in special needs children, which not everybody did.

Mom [00:25:53]:
Yeah. I had quite a few, well, some most well, some part time, some full time. The part time ones were in school, and, the either mom or dad, the parent would drop them off on their way to work because there again, the parents both work. And they drop them off, and the, the bus would come right to my door. I'd walk them out, get them on the bus. They'd go to school. I had had them before and after school. And, after school, the bus would drop them off.

Mom [00:26:32]:
I'd I'd go out and bring them in. I'd give them a snack, named after a nap, and then they get up and play. Whatever they were able to do. Watch TV, play with my kitty, whatever. Yeah. Yeah. And, until they grew up and even now, I keep in touch with a couple of, my kid my special ed kids. Mhmm.

Debra Coleman [00:27:00]:
Right. I remember the bus would come in the mornings and the afternoons. Like, sometimes they would get picked up at your house even too in the morning.

Mom [00:27:06]:
In the morning.

Debra Coleman [00:27:07]:
For school.

Mom [00:27:07]:
They go to school. Uh-huh.

Debra Coleman [00:27:09]:
Yeah. Yeah. So they started their day with you and ended their day with you.

Mom [00:27:13]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Debra Coleman [00:27:16]:
But in the seventies eighties nineties, that was finding daycare that I'm sure as the nineties came into play, finding a day care that was more homelike and wasn't like a business business, like, you know, going to a strip mall and dropping them off at some Daycare RS type of place, you know, where they were charging an arm and leg. I bet that meant a lot though to the parents because you were almost like a, you know, a parent or an aunt or a grandma. You know, you were just sort of like a family member.

Mom [00:27:44]:
And, actually, my care day care was a home environment.

Debra Coleman [00:27:48]:
Yeah.

Mom [00:27:48]:
It was just like they were home and I was their mom.

Debra Coleman [00:27:51]:
Yeah. You

Mom [00:27:52]:
know, I I provided toys, games. I had a a fenced yard. It was just like raising another kid at home. Yeah. All of these kids. Mhmm.

Debra Coleman [00:28:08]:
And that helped with you raising us because now you were home all day. Yeah. So you were there for us. Like, we never had to go to day care because you were day care. So you Yeah. You know? I mean, at least I didn't by the time I came around. You know? Right.

Mom [00:28:22]:
I

Debra Coleman [00:28:22]:
mean, I was too young to re I I remember when you transitioned from being a hairstylist to working at home. No. I think I was I was young enough to remember that. Because I do remember a few times going to Betty's. Like, I remember being picked up from Betty's. Yeah. A few times in my head, I can remember that. And, I mean, I it was almost like you're just taking me to your friend's house.

Debra Coleman [00:28:42]:
I didn't feel like it was daycare. You know what I mean? It was just yeah. So and then so so that was nice. From a from a child's point of view, that was awesome career for you because I you were home. You were just home all the time. I never had to worry about it. That's nice. Yeah.

Mom [00:28:57]:
I loved it. That's why I continued even after retirement or Social Security. I worked 3 more years. So and by that time, it just worked out good because, I I coulda kept on working, but it all worked out because that was about the time that, Sandy and Scott and the kids were gonna move in and, the construction on my house, the remodel and all that. And, and my day care was kind of dwindling because these kids were, getting older because, from toddlerhood. No. I kept them until they went to school, and, I had a couple after school. But mostly, they'd go to school, and the kids I mean, the the parents would pick them up from school.

Mom [00:29:54]:
So I didn't have very many, So, it all worked out. And and then I completely retired. And, well, then I went back to being a a single mom, but my kids were grown. I, found other things to do when I was retired. I I went to a singles, a singles group at my church. Started line dancing. Just went to plays and movies, and just went to a gym, exercise, still do. Just there's a lot of things to do.

Mom [00:30:41]:
You know?

Debra Coleman [00:30:42]:
I I all your time back?

Mom [00:30:44]:
Yes. I went to, senior center and found things to do there, activities, movies, line dancing. Just senior. That's what I I have told friends, either if they move or something, I said, look for a senior center. They always have activities for seniors. Mhmm. Yeah. So

Debra Coleman [00:31:07]:
And not only that, but you, does that about the time you joined the Red Hat group?

Mom [00:31:13]:
Oh, that too. Yeah.

Debra Coleman [00:31:14]:
Society. Excuse me. Yes. Red Hat Society.

Mom [00:31:17]:
Yeah. And that was a a fun thing, and I still go. And I I can't remember days. I should do a journal or something. But, anyway, one of the singles groups I went to was a church at Saint Norbert, and that went on for several years with a support group. It was a really good group for separate singles. Anyway, it kinda went on. It kinda diminished, and, eventually eventually, there was no more group that a lot of us, ladies kept in touch.

Mom [00:31:55]:
We'd go out for lunch or movie or something like that. And, and once once a month, we get together, El Torito or someplace for happy hour and celebrate birthdays, birthdays of of the month. And, from that came a Red Hat group. It was a group of 15 of these ladies that we had just kept connected. And, and my friend, Judy, who is from England, he said she always wanted to be a queen. So she started the Red Hat group, and she was the queen. Oh. Anyway, when it's just, you know, once a month.

Mom [00:32:39]:
We still do get together once a month.

Debra Coleman [00:32:42]:
Well, I always joke to people that you have more of a social life than you always have had more of social life than I ever ever had. Even in my early twenties, crazy single days, you were always running around.

Mom [00:32:54]:
Yeah. But

Debra Coleman [00:32:55]:
and another thing that you did, which I think people can appreciate, is being a single mom with 3 kids well, 2a half because Jim, you know, was older. But still, you found a way to make it all work. Like, you I I growing up, I never wanted for anything. Like, you found a way to keep the roof over our heads, to keep food in our bellies, to and then, you know, we went to school, and you still made time for us to have fun. Like, I tell people all the time, I mean, camping. My mom would throw us in the in the trailer and just take off, and we'd go camping. I mean, it's cheap. It's free.

Debra Coleman [00:33:31]:
I mean, you know, it's free entertainment for us kids because once we get there, we just run around and go do our own fun. You know?

Mom [00:33:37]:
And so I was in a group of, people that camped, and then Yeah. You guys run around with their kids Yep. And kids.

Debra Coleman [00:33:46]:
Yep. And that that's that's exactly what I was gonna bring up. You found awesome support groups through church, and then you belong to PWP too for a while. Yeah. So that that was cool too that you were able to have that support and make friends that way.

Mom [00:34:02]:
Yeah.

Debra Coleman [00:34:02]:
It was just about raising kids and going to work and all that stuff. You found time to, yeah, do all that. Yeah.

Mom [00:34:10]:
And then in the neighborhood where we where I still live, there were a lot of kids, young families. Now it's a different generation of they're starting to have young families, but, you made friends with the kids you went to school with. And then you guys, you know, found friends, found things to do. And, it you know, we never really suffered. We didn't want for anything. I Mm-mm. You know, I was really lucky. I was blessed.

Mom [00:34:44]:
You know? Had and you guys are healthy, happy. You know? We had neighborhood friends, church friends, you know, that we, even to this day, still keep in touch with friends.

Debra Coleman [00:35:03]:
Yeah. It's Yeah.

Mom [00:35:05]:
Not like I do too. Mhmm.

Debra Coleman [00:35:08]:
Exactly. Exactly. It and it's funny. I mean, maybe I shouldn't think this way, but, you know, when you hear people complain, like, oh, you know, how am I gonna do that? I'm all alone or whatever. I think, well, I don't know. My mom did. You know? And you did it before technology. You know what I mean? I mean, now you can just sit a kid down, and they can just play games all day.

Debra Coleman [00:35:27]:
But, I mean, you know, we had to go make our own fun. And, I mean, when people joke around and say, we would get chased out when the sun came up, and then we weren't supposed to come back till the sun went down. I mean, that's pretty much how we were, you know, unless it was super hot or the weather was bad or something. But, I mean, to stay at home and be in your room was punishment. You know what I mean? It was like, go outside.

Mom [00:35:50]:
Right? So And we're lucky enough to have, California weather, so, you know Right. There's not a lot of time when you had to stay home. You were

Debra Coleman [00:36:01]:
Yeah.

Mom [00:36:02]:
You, were able to find stuff, play stuff.

Debra Coleman [00:36:06]:
Well, that's cool. That's cool. I I wanted to do a show, for you to kinda honor you for mom's day, and and just to kinda reflect a little bit on your history. You know? I mean, beauty school USC. High school, USC, beauty school, and then you were your own businesswoman back before that was even a thing to do. You were doing your own thing. Yeah. So and finding a way to take care of all your kids.

Mom [00:36:36]:
Mhmm. I know. I just, not so much luck. I think I'm just blessed. I I I had good luck. I, you know, I've had bad luck, but I overcame stuff. I mean, like, probably the worst thing was going through a divorce. Yeah.

Mom [00:36:55]:
But, you know, eventually, I made due, took, I I just cut corners so that I could pay for everything. I had to want when he left, I had 2 house payments paid off the second. Just kept going. Just kept Mhmm. Kept working. And Mhmm. Luckily enough, I worked at stuff that I like. I mean Yeah.

Mom [00:37:24]:
I don't remember ever having a job that I didn't like. I was able to do whatever god sent my way.

Debra Coleman [00:37:31]:
Mhmm.

Mom [00:37:32]:
Yeah.

Debra Coleman [00:37:33]:
Well, and your your your strong faith, I'm sure, also got you through all that

Mom [00:37:37]:
too. Definitely.

Debra Coleman [00:37:39]:
You're very strong in your faith. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. When you were thinking about transitioning from being a hairdresser to a daycare provider, did you did it take you a while to kinda actually pull the trigger and do that? Were you kind of afraid to actually let go of your 9 to 5 job and try this on your own? Like, I'm just trying to think. Did you have to have, like you know?

Mom [00:38:01]:
Well, actually, back then, when I was transitioning, it was Yeah. The summer of 76 when, when my son went on a 10 week vacate no. Trip to the 76 Olympics. Well, I I'm not sure of the details, but I remember I was still working, at the beauty shop. And I, I was gonna go on vacation. And I told my boss, do you take a vacation with my kids or something. Whatever it was, I, was gonna be gone for a couple of weeks, and, that's when I started babysitting. I just started with 2 kids and, you know, built up.

Mom [00:38:54]:
But Wow. My yeah. But my in September, I remember, oh, I was gonna stay home for this summer. That's what it was. And, and, my boss called me from the beauty shop and said, why are you coming back? Because my customers, who were going to someone temporarily, my customers was were asking for me when she coming back. Uh-oh. Yep. And I told her on the phone, I said, you know what? I'm not coming back.

Mom [00:39:24]:
I have started babysitting, And, I I like it. I've decided I'm gonna stay home and do day care in my home. And, so you can tell customers, you'll get used to somebody else. You know? I didn't worry about it. So I I wasn't really afraid. And and my friend Betty, who was my babysitter and turned me on to babysitter, she helped me. Anyway. And,

Debra Coleman [00:39:54]:
did she help you find your first family?

Mom [00:39:57]:
Actually, my first family was 2 boys that she took care of. And when I told her that's what I wanna do, she says, well, I've got, 2 boys that are new. I just started taking care of them. But, if you wanna do if you wanna take care of you could just try it. That's it was kind of a trial. So she told those parents, you know, that I would be, babysitting because she probably, she had too many kids, and so did I at one point that worked that out. But, anyway, so I had those 2 boys. And then, I put it out in the penny saver.

Mom [00:40:39]:
I got these little, card, 3 by 5 cards and wrote a little, you know, message on it, day care message, and put them back in the grocery stores. And I got calls, and I started babysitting. And then some of those moms had friends that needed a babysitter. So I got in at a a good time.

Debra Coleman [00:41:05]:
Yeah. You really did.

Mom [00:41:07]:
Yeah. Needed daycare, and I think there weren't that many around.

Debra Coleman [00:41:11]:
And you had to be licensed too. Right?

Mom [00:41:14]:
Yeah. And that was the other thing that I didn't get licensed at first. I just didn't get licensed for, I don't know, a couple of years. And, and then someone came to the door. Social worker came to the door and said, are you a babysitter? And I said, yes. I understand you're taking care of kids in your home. Do you have a license? And I said, no. I didn't know you needed a license.

Mom [00:41:41]:
And I invited her in and, asked her, you know, well, if I need a license, I will get a license. How do I go about it? And she was very nice. She told me, you know, I have to apply for a license, have to get, fingerprinted, health test, and, make sure I was up on, vaccinations, stuff like that. I just did whatever I was told to do. So, you know, I got my license. And, the part time the school kids weren't there all that time. And, and I was home with the little ones and just continued taking care of them Yeah. Feeding them, entertaining them, and, you know, everything I needed to do Right.

Mom [00:42:31]:
For many years, for 29 years.

Debra Coleman [00:42:34]:
Yeah. And for

Mom [00:42:36]:
the longest.

Debra Coleman [00:42:38]:
Yeah. I don't ever remember a time when there weren't kids in the house, except when on weekends and holidays, of course. But, I mean, I jokingly tell people I was changing diapers at the ripe old age of 10. Like, I knew how to do all that. Yeah. You you

Mom [00:42:52]:
and Sandy were a big help for me. Yeah. And even, later on when, when I wanted to take vacations. See, I did when you're self employed, I didn't have, a vacation pay or sick pay or anything. Thank god I was, yeah, I was never sick.

Debra Coleman [00:43:15]:
Yeah.

Mom [00:43:15]:
But, one time I wanted to take a vacation. Well, I had to take a vacation in the summer, and you and Sandy took care of the

Debra Coleman [00:43:26]:
kids. Mhmm.

Mom [00:43:26]:
And it it, you know, it was alright with the parents. They knew you. They you babysit for some of their kids. Mhmm. And, anyway so

Debra Coleman [00:43:35]:
And it wasn't until we were older, everybody. Don't freak out that a 10 year old was watching kids. Yeah. It wasn't until my sister and I were much older, yeah, that we would trade off. I remember that we would trade off because we I think we're working part time too at that time, and so we would just sorta, like, work out our shifts and watch the kids. And

Mom [00:43:53]:
Yeah.

Debra Coleman [00:43:54]:
It worked out. It worked out.

Mom [00:43:55]:
It worked out.

Debra Coleman [00:43:56]:
Yeah. Yeah. It did. Well, thank you, mom, so much for doing this show with me. I I a lot of this stuff I knew, but some stuff I didn't. So that was really it was fun to hear it. It's kind of fun to to relive some of that too and go down

Mom [00:44:11]:
Me too. Yeah.

Debra Coleman [00:44:13]:
Yeah. Some of the stuff you hadn't had to think about for a while.

Mom [00:44:16]:
I know. Yeah. For sure. Gosh. So much in this over the years. Yeah.

Debra Coleman [00:44:23]:
Yeah. We'll have to do another show in titled, how to camp with kids on a budget. It just

Mom [00:44:31]:
Well, camping was a cheap vacation.

Debra Coleman [00:44:36]:
It was.

Mom [00:44:37]:
Yeah. If you plan it you know, plan your meals, plan everything, then, I I didn't have to pay for a motel. I had a little camper that we all slept in and Mhmm. Yeah. That was fun.

Debra Coleman [00:44:50]:
It was fun. I loved camping. It was it had its moments, of course, like anything, but they were few and far between. I mean, it was mostly just fun.

Mom [00:44:59]:
Yeah. Great way.

Debra Coleman [00:45:01]:
Mhmm. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Wow. Yep. Oh, okay, mom. Well, thank you for chatting.

Debra Coleman [00:45:09]:
I appreciate it so much.

Mom [00:45:13]:
Yeah. This is good. I've I've never been interviewed like this, and, you know, it's fun thinking about thinking back.

Debra Coleman [00:45:21]:
Yeah.

Mom [00:45:22]:
Well, this everything.

Debra Coleman [00:45:24]:
Exactly. And this show is about women in the workplace, and you were definitely a woman in the workplace out there. You know? Yeah. Both out work. Yeah. So So I thought your story was definitely worth telling, so I appreciate it.

Mom [00:45:37]:
Oh, thank you. Yeah. It was fun.

Debra Coleman [00:45:40]:
Well, that was my show with my mom, everybody. You got to peel you got to poke behind the curtain and see what life was like for the Jorgensen household a little bit. We had such a good childhood. I mean, you know, like any family, we had our ups and downs and everything in between. But for the most part, my mom did her thing. She was, you know, a single mom raising 3 kids in the seventies and eighties, and, she did it. She was a warrior, and we love her for it. And I think we're all better for it too, quite frankly.

Debra Coleman [00:46:13]:
You know, hey, her son's a chiropractor. Her daughter is an orientation and mobility specialist, and her youngest is, running her mouth behind a microphone. So, you know, it's all good. Anyway, that was my show with my mom. I hope you all enjoyed it. As always, please feel free to reach out to me. I will have a link to my website in the show notes. I would love to hear from you if you'd like to be a guest on your show.

Debra Coleman [00:46:36]:
If you wanna just or if you wanna just throw your mom behind the mic and have her be on the show. I'd love to talk to moms. They're awesome. I really believe, moms are, you know, moms are why for many of us, our moms are why we are we why we do what we do, and why we have the strength to be women in the workplace and to pursue the careers of our dream of our dreams because if it wasn't for those women before us, paving the way for us, you know, we really need to sometimes I think turn around and and look, you know, and look back and and say thank you to those women who paved the way for us. So this was my tribute to to all those women. So thank you, mom. Thanks again. And, until next week, everybody.

Debra Coleman [00:47:20]:
Stay safe and stay well.