I always knew Team Jordan was a close-knit group, but I get the sense from this that Jordan Estate was more like its own little community, with Jim as a sort of patriarch and all of you working to support each other. Was this how it was for you? And did this help you all in the wake of Jim’s passing?
Heh. That’s more or less it, but . . . let me tell you a story. One day, many years ago, I went into Jim’s office. While there, I mentioned some problem that I was having (I have no idea what it was; it was that long ago). Jim immediately proceeded to give me chapter and verse on what to do. I answered that I was going to think about it more, and then went upstairs to my office. A few minutes passed, and then there was the booming “Maria!” from the bottom of the stairs. I went out, and he said that he was sorry for going all patriarchal on me, that I was a grown, capable woman and that I should do what I thought best. I hadn’t even thought twice about it, but he was worried that he had overstepped his bounds. Therefore, I hesitate to call him a patriarch. He was our leader.
So we all worked together. It’s a strange little group, sort of random, but not really. Harriet was at my wedding; she appears in some of the pictures taken. Jim may have been there (really, most of that day is a blur in my memory), but he was probably off writing. Marcia was once my husband’s boss. She and I share the same birthday, and almost no one can tell us apart when we answer the phone. Alan’s son went to the same school as my sons; I became friends with his wife before I ever met him, and he later coached my son’s tennis team (It was at a tennis match that his wife suggested he might be interested in working with us). We’re coworkers, yes, but we are friends too. We watch out for each other, and we’ve always joked that we’re more like a family than a business. Dealing with Jim’s illness brought us all even closer. We pulled together, and supported each other. And yes, it very much did help us when he died, and since.
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