I'll admit to procrastinating a bit in writing this post until my Director of Project Management, Kathy Guise, assigned it to me today with a due date of tomorrow. I’m grateful for the nudge Kathy!
As a business owner, a million tasks are always waiting to be done, but it was a little more than a busy schedule holding me back from telling this story. It's a more personal narrative than I usually share in a public forum, yet it is the best way to explain our commitment to service and where our core values originated. The "History of the “Blessing” is at the heart of our company mission and quite literally how Quality Confidential came to be.
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for anyone else" - Charles Dickens
With that said, “Be a Blessing” originated from a friendship that spanned 27 years. In 1990,
as I sat by a magnificent lake and listened to the sound of bagpipes resonating off distant buildings, I met Lee, a fellow science major at St. Andrew's University (NC). If you’ve ever
been to St. Andrews, you understand that you can’t describe it without the imagery. It’s a beautiful place, and that particular day, I met a beautiful person. Lee had a way of making everyone he encountered feel special and loved. Whether it was showing up at your house to help with a project or helping stranded travelers on the interstate while riding his motorcycle on a Sunday afternoon, he showed up and
helped. He was truly a friend to all.
As it happens with most friendships, ours was filled with times when we were able to spend time together frequently, and times when distance stretched the time between meetings. And yet, when together, we never missed a beat. We just continued where we left off. By 2014, our core group of friends had settled within reasonable proximity of one another and many of our weekends and vacations were shared. It was around this time that Lee started having some health issues and was eventually diagnosed with cancer. After extensive surgery, Lee was declared cancer-free and sent the following text to our core group of family and friends, and in turn, established “The Blessing.”
I wish I could say that is the end of the story. In 2015, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I underwent a year of treatment, including eight surgeries and six months of chemotherapy. Aside from my personal Faith, if I didn’t understand before what Lee meant by “you all are my blessing” I certainly came to understand it during treatment. That core group of friends and family, including Lee, was incredible. They were the last thing I saw before surgeries and the first thing I saw when I woke up. They drove hours to bring dinner or medical supplies and then turned right around to drive home when the needed item was delivered. They made my husband smile. Unfortunately, it was after the end of my treatment that Lee’s cancer returned.
Lee began treatment again in mid-2017. At the time, I worked near Lee’s home and would visit when I could to walk his dog, Max. We had many late-afternoon, light-hearted chats about anything and everything but cancer. We pondered the mystery of why my hair was coming back curly and gray. We laughed a lot. One afternoon, we chatted about my dream of having my own company, and my misgivings about going out on my own. There were so many “ifs” and not a small amount of personal financial risk. My husband, Chuck, was 100% supportive. He was also 100% biased, and perhaps not considering his own best interest 😊. Lee listened to all of this, thought for a bit and said, “Why not? You can do it. Go be great.”
I went home that night, spoke with Chuck again, and prayed on it for a while. A few months later, in October 2017, Quality Confidential was established with the thought “be a blessing” in the forefront of my mind as the foundation of our mission and core values. As mentioned in our previous blog, “We strive to be a benefit to others in all we do.”
Lee passed away in December 2017, just a few days shy of his 47th birthday. Although passed from our lives, Lee blessed those who knew him with a heart for service and the desire to "be a blessing" to everyone he encountered.
As we celebrate the holidays, we at Quality Confidential wish blessings to each of you, and pass on the call to be a blessing to others!
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