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part of their campaign to promote women’s self-esteem.
I was the first dietitian whose book was on a cereal box, with me
on the cover! That really made me feel fantastic! Kaye was thrilled to
go to the supermarket and see my cereal box taking up a whole shelf
space.
She told a stranger walking by, “That’s my twin!”
Instead of being impressed, he fled.
When Kaye told me this, we laughed and laughed.
• • •
At this point I was feeling very confident about my practice, my kids
studying, and my book. I had been renting for so long, and at forty-
six, I felt ready to take on a new challenge: home ownership. It was
time.
I had saved up some money, and there was a beautiful little two-
story house for sale that was next to my office in Toronto. In Canada
at that time, you only had to have a 5 percent deposit. The house was
$200,000, and I had $10,000 in the bank. This was the first time I
had ever had savings.
I went to the bank and completed my application at the high-end
shopping mall. I thought it might help that the manager had seen me
modeling there. They knew I was working. I was sure they would
accept my application. After two weeks went by and I didn’t hear
from them, I went in and said, “By the way, you were going to contact
me a week ago regarding my application.”
The manager was embarrassed and said, “You were rejected.”
They said my income hadn’t been high enough over the past five
years, I was the sole owner of my practice, which made me a high
risk for a mortgage.
I was surprised and deflated. I had been an excellent client, and
they had seen me modeling in their shopping mall. And now I was
rejected. However, I had to get back to my practice, and I didn’t have
time to wallow in my disappointments. This just meant that my plan
was delayed, and I would have to save more to prove myself.
• • •
While this was going on, Kimbal was working in Toronto and using
my office phone to talk to Elon every day. After the phone bill came
in at $800, I told him that he should go and join Elon in Palo Alto,
California. So he moved to Silicon Valley to try to launch their first
technology company at the start of the internet boom. Their first
company was called Zip2, which offered maps and door-to-door
directions, and they worked with the world’s major newspapers to
bring them online. These were entirely new ideas, and I thought they
were good ones that would make life better. I wanted to do anything
I could to support them. I was visiting them every six weeks as they
were getting their business plan going. I bought them food, clothing,
and furniture and covered their printing expenses. They couldn’t get
a credit card in the US, so they were using my Canadian credit card.
Nearly out of money, they needed some cash to continue.
Fortunately, I still had $10,000 in the bank. I gave it to them because
I believed in what they were doing.
• • •
The night before they had meetings with venture capitalists, Kimbal
and I went to Kinko’s to print out their presentations in color. I was
paying for it because it was a dollar a page, and that was very
expensive.
The next morning, we were all exhausted because none of us had
slept. Of course, Elon was fine, because he never sleeps. He was
always up late doing the coding for their program. They had been
seeing numerous VCs and pitching their idea for months. That
morning they met two VCs who made them their first offer. We were
delirious with happiness.
That night I said, “We’re going to the best restaurant in town.”
We went to a fabulous restaurant, and we all looked worn-out and
grubby. But they treated us wonderfully. We don’t know why they
were so nice. I don’t even know what we ate. We’d been eating Jack
in the Box and that type of thing—anything quick, inexpensive, and
open at two in the morning. Kimbal told me he can still taste their
chicken fajita pita.
The bill came. I paid it and said, “That’s the last time you’ll see my
credit card.”
And it was.
To sum things up, I learned that you should never wallow in
disappointment. If you are disappointed, go in a different direction.
If you were dumped or didn’t get that job, forget about it and keep
going. If you’re rejected for a home mortgage, keep working to
improve your credit rating. All that has happened to me over and
over. I haven’t been successful in marriage and relationships. I’ve
been rejected from numerous jobs over and over. My life has derailed
to such an extent that I actually moved cities and countries.
In relationships, I would be dumped by a guy and be sad for six
months, then three months, then three weeks, then three days. I wish
I hadn’t wallowed so much in the beginning. Wallowing makes you
unattractive and annoying and will keep people away from you.
When my nutrition clients would come in with a sad face, I would tell
them to walk upright and smile. I wouldn’t allow them to make my
day miserable. They would laugh, and thank me for that advice.
When I desperately needed extra income from modeling and would
be rejected from a job that I thought I nearly had, it would make me
scared. Now I’m used to it. And will even say that now I have extra
time for my dog. He’s always happy when I’m around. The great
thing about aging is that when you have a disappointment, you’ve
already been through that. You recover much quicker.
My advice to you is to stay as positive as you can. Time heals. Try
to recover from disappointment quicker than I did. And maybe get a
dog.
E
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