Part of 1989

1989 was a year like no other we had experienced, before or since.     Late in 1988 we had been invited to a meeting of TCP (The Coin Program), had joined, and unfortunately got carried away with it.     Life was good for us during this time, both the farms and the motels were doing well and once again we were 'in the money' and living very well.     So why the lure to make even more money?    Greed?  Possibly.   Influenced by the persuasive power of Bob Crisp?   Possibly.    Wanting to do good with excessive money?   Possibly.     Probably all was true, although one would prefer to look back and think we did most of it for others!     In order to be fair with ourselves, I do know that most of Dick's and my plans on what to do with the money (the same as it is now if we buy a lottery ticket) is the charities we can support (we even have them listed), and the family, extended family and friends we can help.     Other than a better car, and some trips, not much time is daydreaming about what we would do with the money.

But regardless of the reason, we threw ourselves wholeheartedly into the program and regretfully threw a lot of money along with it.     We became one of the first Gold sellers, and led the team to Florida on what was supposed to be a television blitz of advertising and sales.    

We attended a great get together with TCP in Hawaii, at an amazing resort on the big island.

    I was fortunate to have the chance to swim with the dolphins, an experience I shall never forget. What amazing eyes they have and they make eye contact that seems to reach into your soul.

TCP did not work, and we did lose a lot of money.    And more than the regret of losing our money is the regret that some people who followed us, lost their money too.     But for Dick and I, TCP was not a complete loss, especially for me.     Since I took the 'front' position on the program and did the actual presentations, it did huge things for my confidence.   Both Dick and I lost weight, wanting to look as good as possible and I accumulated a large wardrobe of some lovely clothes.  

As a sidebar of the TCP program, 1989 was a great blow to by confidence in other people though.     Because of our total focus on the program itself, we did not give enough attention to our motels, leaving them in the hands of what we thought were honest and reliable managers.     Unfortunately our manager in Rohnert Park, got hooked on meth, and devised a brilliant way of syphoning money from the motel.     By the time it all came to light, he had gotten to us to the tune of something between $150,000 and $200,000.     It was devastating to me to know how much faith and trust I had in this man, and it didn't make me feel much better when he was sentenced to time in prison.