Creating a wine label, never occurred to me. Sure my family drinks wine at most large gatherings and for all of our holiday celebrations. But I actually never thought of it, until I became involved with this incredible Direct to Consumer Ambassador fine wine monthly program. The most incredible opportunity would be to have my Family Name on one of our delicious fine wines! This is the most prestigious award that I could ever dream to have as a possible reality. How many ordinary people actually get that chance? I feel so honored and blessed to have the chance to have a Legacy that would be just downright EPIC!
Creating the image was easy for me. Let me start at the beginning. Julie Andrews says: “It’s a very good place to start!” I grew up in a small town. My family made our name memorable as the only Travel Agent in the city (aside from the AAA.) Haimes Travel Agency. I remember around 6 years old I had my first job stamping brochures with a rubber stamp and an ink pad! I got a whole nickel for every 100 I stamped. Things moved along and I never really appreciated what a dynamic businesswoman my mother became. We traveled all over and won awards, cruises, and excursions almost monthly. As children, we sometimes imagine different expectations that may not be attainable! My dream was to travel someplace my parents had never been. That was a pretty tall order but to my amazement……I actually got my wish!
Do You Remember Your High School Job?
By the time I got to High School the last thing I wanted to do was work with my Parents after school and then have all evening at home with them as well. I guess my rebellion was to get a job directly across the street from Haimes Travel Agency. I worked for the Main Department Store in town, ” The Hub” and won a spot on “Teen Board” which lasted all 4 years of High School. It was awesome! We were taught everything about the department store, buying, selling, fashion, gemology, P&L, merchandising, advertising, scheduling, management, and event planning. They even sent those on the “Teen Board” to fashion and make-up schools. We were taught about every department in the store and got to travel to other stores as well as model the seasonal lines of clothing.
I kept myself pretty busy so I really did not have to spend any time in the office with my parents and sister. I was third chair in the High School Orchestra, took private violin lessons, second chair in the Junior Symphony Orchestra, and also in a quartet. In addition, my Junior Achievement group was the leading Club in the entire 3 city area. We got awards for our designs, implementation, and sales regularly. I remember one of the items we produced was silk-screened TV trays. Even then with all the things I was involved with in school and all of our religious celebrations, I never thought about creating a wine label.
Things Happen for a Reason
At the end of my Junior year, I became friends with a girl that had come to our town on a Rotary Scholarship. The Rotary usually schedules the students to stay with multiple families in order for them to gain a diversity of experiences. My incredible Mother found out this student followed our own religious beliefs, and she came to live with us and stayed the entire year! She was from a small town outside of Johannesburg, South Africa. During her stay, she was required to give lectures about her country and home to different organizations. Of course, I had to get excused from school with her to run the projector for her slide show. It was like our own special retreat!
I learned all about her country and her hometown of Carletonville. My senior year was incredible and everywhere we traveled, she went with us. Cruises to the Caribbean and Mexico, and even Disney and Greyhound races in Florida. You can imagine at the end of the year we were like sisters ( actually I was closer to her than I was my own sister). We became close with her family as they called often. Kari stayed for my birthday and Thanksgiving and then left. I was devastated. She left early because Africa’s seasons are our exact opposite. Her family was taking a summer holiday together and they were all meeting in Paris.
A plan was Underway
I later found out that Kari was not much of a writer, so we called each other often. I heard all about Paris and their amazing summer holiday. From France, the entire family traveled to Israel. And spent almost 2 months before going back home. But my Senior year seemed like a whirlwind with everything I was doing and college coming up. I had gotten accepted into the University of Arizona in their Deaf Ed program. My excitement increased as the year progressed. Many hours of research led to my career choice. Then having to wait to attend and explore their many programs on the Indian Reservations was difficult. But I was most excited to leave Ohio and explore a completely new part of the country.
Little did I know that things would eventually go topsy-turvey. On one of my many phone calls with Kari, her dad asked to speak to my mom. I thought nothing of it, said goodbye while handing the phone to Mom. I actually cannot remember how I found out and Kari did not know at all! My dream was going to come true!!! My parents had never been to Africa! They were sending me To AFRICA for my graduation present. I was leaving early in April. U of A did not start till October, so I was golden! That way I could spend as much time as possible living with Kari and her family before College. OMG!! All I could think of was, wow sometimes parents really do surprise you with the best surprise in the world!
The Longest Flight Ever
On the 26-hour flight, I began to worry that I had never met Simon and Lola Waks. Worst of all I had not seen a picture of them for over a year. What was I thinking? I was going to a strange place, a strange country, to live with a strange family. Not only was I nervous, but I couldn’t sleep because I snore, and kept waking myself up so I would not bother people around me. To top it all the Johannesburg Airport was huge and I had never gone through customs by myself.
All my worries disappeared when these warm, smiling, people came rushing to me and swooped me up, swung me around, and said “Jaynee we would know you anywhere!” Wow, they sounded just like Kari! I knew she would not be at the airport because she was still away at the University where she was attending her first year. That was when I found out that she had no idea that I was coming. Her parents thought it would be a fun surprise! They had not counted on the fact that my plane was delayed in arriving and Kari had been repeatedly contacting them to find out why they were not there. They were running out of excuses and she was boiling mad since we were over 6 hours late.
A True Surprise
When arriving at Kari’s School we parked a bit away from the entrance, so I wouldn’t be seen. As soon as The Waks’s got out of the car, I could hear someone yelling. Kari was the only one left on campus and she was letting her parents know, loud and clear! She continued to scream for a good 10 minutes. Then yelling go louder and more clear as they were coming close to the car. Slowly, and carefully, I inched open the car door and JUMPED out with my arms in the air yelling “SURPRISE!”! Kari dropped everything she was carrying and Simon and Lola began to laugh. Kari and I just ran to each other and had the best, long-awaited hug! We were so happy to be back together, we began to jump up and down! Thus began my amazing adventure in South Africa.
The next six months passed so quickly. Filled with jam-packed excitement, exploration, and things that I never ever thought I would do! I couldn’t imagine myself going 2.4 miles( 3.9 kilometers) deep in the mineshaft of the world’s deepest gold mine, Tau Tona. Right there in Kari’s hometown of Carltonville. I had no idea her dad Simon, was a former mine foreman and he still had connections! Talk about a long ride, but there was no elevator music playing in this one. It was just like riding a cable car going down, down, down in a cage with rock on either side for walls.
Once we got there it was extremely hot as they were actually melting the gold and pouring the molten rock into bars. There were huge palettes of gold bars in the back of the cavern and a conveyer system that carried iron molds to the point where men were standing wearing heat-protective suits and gloves. They held long-handled ladles with pour spouts that poured into the iron molds. The gold was in huge vats that drained into the scoops. The conveyer started way back in the tavern where the rock was sifted and separated, washed, crushed, then melted. It was absolutely incredible to see and watch. Sorry no pictures allowed but it is certainly 1 I will never forget. We were told to grab a bar for our suvenier! Physically carry it from the pour sight to the outside courtyard up the two-and-a-half mile shaft and continue walking; cuz we could keep it!? Yap, no thanks!
Little did I know that 40 years later; I would eventually fall in love and marry an African. After corresponding for over five years and having no luck with immigration to get my man to the States. I planned to fly to Nigeria to marry the most incredible man of my dreams. It was the summer of 2016, long before COVID. I was not feeling well and thought I was just tired and excited for my journey to Lagos. My roommate came home from work. Took one look at me and said, “I am taking you to the hospital!” Turns out, I had a temperature of 103 and rising and they admitted me. I was to leave for Africa in 2 weeks. The hospital brought in an infectious disease specialist who informed me I had a back infection and I was not going to be able to travel over 3,000 miles on a plane. I needed to be on medication for at least six weeks. It really felt like the Universe was against me! I needed to have my secret rendezvous with MY incredible man that wanted to marry me!