A promise to his little girl long ago. It was time to deliver, he knew. The price he would pay! Leave a career. Start over. Forge a new life.

Lise Webb Johnson, executive editor of John Wiley and Sons, is our Savvy Dad guest today. A mom herself, Lise told us she often thinks about a special day, her dad, and a promise he made.

Lise Webb Johnson

Lise was just 9. She sat weeping on the floor of a hall closet in their Springhill, Kansas home. It was moving day…again.

“Dad was in senior management while I was growing up,” she recalls. “We had to move—a lot. This was our fifth in ten years.

The strain of always being the ‘new girl’ wore thin. It was hard to make new friends, to adjust and fit in.  

I cried every night for days. Begrudgingly, I bid my friends good-bye. They had filled my days with adventure and fun. I confided in them, shared my joys and fears. Now, again they would be ripped away. It was not fair.

The moving truck was loaded, ready to go. So were we, to a place called West Chester, PA. I decided to make a stand. I hid in a hall closet. Dad called for me, but I stayed silent, burying sniffles in my sleeve.

It wasn’t hard to find a 9 year-old in a small empty house. Dad creaked open the shuttered doors and stood towering above me. I remember the moment well. I could see the hurt. I sensed the pain in his face. He lowered himself and sat down on the floor at my side.

Dad said he didn’t want to go either, but we had no choice. There were bills to pay. ‘Your mom and I aren’t leaving without you,’ Dad explained.

‘But, I’ll make you a deal. Stick with me for just a few more years. When you’re ready for high school, I’ll quit what I do. We’ll move back to North Carolina.

I promise you will start and finish high school in the same place. You will keep the same friends. Deal?’ Dad asked.

The tears quickly cleared from my eyes. ‘Deal,’ I replied. We had family there. I could keep friends. Mom would be glad. At that age, I had no idea of the magnitude of Dad’s promise. As a parent and career woman, I now understand.

Lise’s dad Ralph Webb, Jr. with grandsons
Conner William Johnson (L) and
Henry Waterhouse Johnson IV (R)

Quit what you know. How to pay bills? What would you do? The time came. High school was less than a year away. What would he do?

Dad delivered. He left his job, just like he said. We moved back to N.C. and stayed in one place. Dad started his own business. He worked night and day. It eventually flourished.

If my father had asked to be released from his promise, I would have likely said yes. I was older then. I wouldn’t have liked it, but I would have understood. He never suggested any such thing.

To Dad, there was nothing to ask, no decision to make. He made a commitment to a child in a closet on moving day. No matter how hard, regardless of risk, my father would do what he said.

It’s easy to say, ‘do what you say.’ Some find it harder to do. Not my dad. It was easy for him. He simply knew when he spoke he’d do what he said.”