Joe Tabares:
CLASS OF 1984
Raymondville High SchoolClass of 1984
Raymondville, TX
Joe's Story
Well here's my story. I remember when I was about to graduate High School, that I just wanted to leave. I think we all left to Austin the second day after we graduated. Little did I know that I would think about my high school days as some of the best days of my life. I left to Austin and started going to Austin Community College and majored in Criminal Justice. I was going to be a Secret Service Agent and I was well on my way. A few years in, I met a girl that was in Management at a hotel and I started working as a Security Manager shortly there after. So, in my infinite wisdom, I left school because "school didn't pay as much as my management job." Well I left school, (my wife laughs at this) with one class left to go for an Associates Degree. (Which I am gettinig this year 2008) Well it's haunted me a few times in job searches, so why not huh? Well anyhoo, I met this person and had the worst experience for the next 10 years. It's all a blur really, but in that time frame I got to travel and all sorts of things. I worked for a company out in North Carolina as a Security Director and then on to Glamour Shots as a manager, trainer, and area manager. Traveled in a big U from Washington state to New York City and all the states in between. Tired of travel and my life, I settled in Houston, where I met the most wonderful woman in my life. (That's for you honey ;) NO but really she is.) Through a friend of mine I was introduced to my wife Alison whom I married in two short months. From there, I took on other area managing postions and then started dabbling in entrepreneurship doing things like web design, recording studio and stuff like that. Well going through jobs wasn't fun so I decided I would plan well and start my own business the correct way. I became a State Farm Agent and also started an IT company with Dwight Ritter. Well, they don't tell you at State Farm that you are gonna give your money away during certain months, never to see it again, (and I have an aversion to that), so I dropped that and started working on the IT business some more. And that's where we are. A beautiful wife, Alison, three kids, Scott 22, Megan 18, and Jordan 16. The best 10 years of my life.
I went back more than several times, but going back kinda lost its charm because I would recognize very few people. So, I would go directly to my parents houses (divorced) and visit them and then go out a few times in town, recognize no one, and then leave town back to Oklahoma. Ooops missed that part. Earlier when I met my wife, she was an accountant for the parent company I was working for. Left the part out about our relationship being long distance. After two months of talking on the internet, you get to know someone, if you don't lie, so after seeing her only about four or five times, I figured I would marry her. She accepted. She moved to Housto...Expand for more
n, hated it, I moved to Oklahoma and love it.
Ok back to high school. They built the new one so there was no where to go to be nostalgic so I stopped visiting there.
Mom passed away in March of 2007, and Dad still lives in Lyford. I spend most of my time right now in Austin working on the business with Dwight and my wife comes to visit every two weeks. That's tough but, I think necessary for the business, plus she loves shopping so it's a good compromise. I guess it's kind of back to that long distance relationship again. She is a Controller now, so moving would be a hassle and I love my house in the boonies. So the goal is work as hard as we can on the business, then run it from an Island somewhere, preferrably in Hawaii.
The reality is that I went from doing poorly in school except for band, which I think saved my life, (figuratively of course) to having a lot of fun going to school in Austin, a beautiful town, blur, blur, blur for ten years then meeting my wife and travelling everywhere. If you asked me back then if I would see how much fun I am having, I would say that I thought I could, but I wouldn't really have believed it.
I owe a lot of this to a substitute teacher who's name I don't remember. As I was boarding the bus to UT day, (where we visit UT to see if we want to go there) when she said, "Joe, why are you getting on the bus, you need to stay here and and get a job and save your parents money." It's because of that statement that I have worked hard to really do well. But I owe the most to my parents that always wanted something better for us than they had. I think they never realized that what they had was a simpler existance that I sometimes wish I had. They always wanted us to do well. We're not rich, but we are doing just fine. Rich is in what you have. I am richer than most. I have had the most wonderful time and I have spent it with the woman I love. I wake up everyday and realize I am in a storybook. Sure after I think about that, I think about work and stuff, but hey that's reality. But if work is fun and you are living your life with someone you really love, then it's not really work right? You are just providing the means to have fun. ANYWAY, after all that droning, you get the drift. Life has been good, and I owe it all to Band, Mr. Lujan, my friends in high school, that substitute teacher, but most of all my parents. My wife and kids have taken over from all that and they are my biggest supporters. Without them pushing me, I wouldn't work so hard to have fun.
Remember everyone, if you work to make ends meet, that's ok, if you have fun along the way. We are here only for 80 to 90 years if we are lucky, then we are gone. Stop, smell the roses, and have a great time along the way. Love your family and friends, do good deeds, and then tell your kids about it.
That's my story - sort of.
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