in Israel and I of course understood why. I was still single, and out of ten members of their family, nine lived in Israel and one lived in America. The travel back and forth and the twelve thousand mile roundtrip air flight and expense would become more difficult as my folks got older. If my father had not became sick with leukemia my parents would have most likely moved to Israel but everything changed when he became ill.
During the time I lived in Washington I also had the opportunity to work in Baltimore. Baltimore was a city quite similar to Philadelphia, a city of neighborhoods where each ethnic group brought their unique flavor to the city, but Baltimore was much smaller. It was once a quite seedy, dull town, but because of an aggressive mayor who loved the city and was able to forcibly enact changes Baltimore became a major tourist spot and a city where people enjoyed visiting and living. Unlike Philadelphia whose sole major effort to rejuvenate the city was the Kimmel Center, a place where concerts were held, Baltimore built the inner harbor with Pavilions that housed dozens of trendy shops, and the National Aquarium was built in Baltimore as well which attracted hundreds of thousands of tourists. Baltimore would later build its football and baseball stadiums in the center of the city. Unlike Philadelphia, which built their stadiums on the outskirts of town which made people attending games get into their cars and drive back home to the suburbs after a game, in Baltimore you could go for a drink or dinner before or after the game and having the two stadiums in town further rejuvenated the city, as did building a beautiful airport on the outskirts of the city. Baltimore had everything Philly did not leadership that worked hard to rebuild the center of the city in a way that benefited the city across the nation and made it a welcome tourist attraction. Philadelphia had Independence Hall but no real reason for visitors to want to see the city other than that or its fabulous art museum. There was an area called Penn’s Landing but it never was built up like the Inner Harbor. One store would open but eventually close because people would not make a special trip just for one restaurant or shop. Opening dozens of new stores like Baltimore did just didn’t seem to be something the leadership of Philly was capable of doing. Philly’s claim to fame is now casino gambling, but all that does is give some people an incentive to gamble their money away and not spend it on local restaurants, taverns, or theater. Baltimore seemed to me the promise of what a city could become whereas Philadelphia always seemed to be a city of what once was that was not able to adapt to changing times and tastes.
I had various sales jobs while I lived in Washington and had finally, at the age of thirty five, straightened myself out and was no longer going from job to job to try and prove myself. I was working for a rapidly growing software company and was on the top five of the national sales force when I was called into the vice presidents office in February of 1986, three months after my father had passed away. He offered me the position of sales manager of their new Detroit office. I told him I wanted to go home and sleep on it and he agreed. That night I tossed and turned the entire evening and could not get to sleep. After thirteen years in sales the thought of being a sales manager with my own staff was something incredibly enticing. During the evening as I lay in bed and wrestled with my decision for the first time in my life I began to think of something other than myself. I knew my sisters lived thousands of miles away and my mom was now alone. I worried about not being able to get to Philadelphia from Detroit if the weather was bad because Detroit was notorious for bad winters. To this very day, whether it was divine intervention or not, I thank God all the time that I made the correct decision, and went into the office the next day and told the Vice President I could not accept the position and turned it down. Not being used to anyone doing that he was not very happy, but he accepted my decision. A close friend suggested I contact the president of the company because she felt that if I did not explain to him why I turned the promotion down I would never get one again. The company was rapidly growing and their sales were increasing every year by phenomenal numbers and turning down a promotion was something you did not do if you desired a career with the company. Nervous and worried about going around the Vice President I called the President who was based out of their headquarters in New York. I explained why I turned the promotion down and he was very polite and we ended our conversation on a pleasant note. I never sought a promotion and was happy to remain in sales. I lived close enough to Philly to get home in an emergency and had every expectation my life would be the same tomorrow as it was today.
One week after I spoke with the president of the company the vice president walked into my office in McLean, Virginia and stated “The president told me to offer you the new Philadelphia office” (which was based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey), and I accepted. The vice president told me quite clearly that he most definitely did not appreciate it that I did an end around him and then left my office. I immediately called my mom with the news that I was returning home and still can hear the happiness in her voice. She was not alone anymore.
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