Written by Lisa Montgomery, Owner of AWBU13 Sponsor, Pinot’s Palette

My story: On July 19 2012, I experienced a rite of passage that all of us, if we live long enough, will go through: My Mother Dear passed away, at the age of 91 just eleven days shy of her 92nd birthday. I do not take it lightly in saying that she was next to God the singular most important reason for my living. I thought I was ready…but I wasn’t. Now, whether I live ten days or ten thousand day, it will be one too many without my Mother Dear but I will live every last one that is allotted for me with the same purpose as I always have: to make my mommy proud of me and aware of the true legacy that she has left all of us. Many times in my conversations with her, she would tell me that when she died she wouldn’t have much to leave behind for her children but that she was leaving whatever that was to me, her youngest of seven, to take care of for the family.

My mother was born in 1920…poor, black and in the Deep South (Hollywood, Mississippi). She was unfortunate enough to have seen many of Lena Horne’s “Strange Fruit” hanging from the trees of her small Mississippi town. She was only permitted a fourth grade education because she was needed to help on the family’s subsistence farm of 80 acres—which ultimately was swindled from my mother’s grandfather and the family when he died in the late 1940’s. My mother married at age 17 to an abusive man 30 years her senior; she left him and subsequently raised her seven children without the assistance or support of any of our fathers (five different ones, I’m finally not afraid to share).

So fast forward to February 15, 2013–six months after losing my mom–the day I was unceremoniously downsized from my job as a University Vice President–Ph.D., 25 years of experience and all–due to “restructuring and budget challenges”. A few weeks later in March, I decided to sell my newly built 1.5 year old house; there was no way I could afford to keep it now. These three losses so close together in proximity were devastatingly difficult to fathom, but I began to think about my mother’s “legacy,” the one that she felt would be empty and consisting only of a small house on an acre of land. I thought about the courage, persistence, determination and survival skills that my mother had endowed in me just by her example alone. I decided that my purpose in life would continue to be my mother. She left 60+ grandchildren behind and they needed to know her beyond an obituary as they grow up. From February to April, I got up every day, dressed and went to the local library in Houston where I lived at the time—just as if I was going to work. I sat at the same library table every day, just as if it were the desk in my office , trying to figure out what to do. Finally, I decided and in April I formed my own C Corporation, ABM Legacy Enterprises, Inc., in honor of my mother, Annie Bell Montgomery. The first order of business for the new corporation was to purchase my first business franchise, Pinot’s Palette. My house sold in April, closed in June and two days later, I came home to Arkansas after 30 years of roaming the country to pursuing an empty and passionless career.

I am a Christian and very much believe in at least one ghost, the Holy Ghost, and one angel, my mother. Since I made this decision, I have felt my mother’s presence and love even more strongly than I did when she was alive. Through God, she has guided and protected me in some unbelievable, and sometimes, funny ways—like just recently when I tried to purchase some supplies for my new business complaining the whole time how expensive the produce was– and every time I tried to enter the zip code, the field for the city would change and vice versa. I finally gave up temporarily and started searching for some other products, only a few moments later to find the exact same product at one-eighth of the shipping costs! The logo for my company is a blue angel; my mother’s favorite color was blue angel she’s guiding me every step of the way. She would always say to me, “You’ve taken care of Mother Dear and all of us. I worry who will take care of you as you in the future.” She worried so much about, that it got me to worrying too. Now I know the answer…I love you, Mother Dear!

About Pinot’s Palette Founded in 2009 ~ Pinot’s Palette is an upscale, entertainment art studio franchise based in Houston, Texas, and combines the appreciation of art and wine through guided, step-by-step painting classes by trained local artists. Today, dozens of studios host hundreds of painters each week and the company has become one of the fastest-growing Paint and Sip franchises in the country. Pinot’s Palette of Little Rock is located in the Pleasant Ridge Town Center at 11525 Cantrell Road, Ste. 607, Little Rock, AR 72212. For more information, visit www.PinotsPalette.com.