Becoming Charlie

By Charlie Houston

Yes, this is all about me, from way back when to today. About fifteen years ago I was walking my horse to let him—and myself—cool down after a riding lesson, when my trainer said, “You live an interesting life.” I just smiled but that’s been on my mind ever since.

A few near-death experiences

I was swimming across a big lake near my hometown, Augusta, Georgia. I was sixteen and had had an unexpected bit of common sense—I asked a friend to follow along in a boat. Wham! Lightning struck the lake perhaps a quarter-mile away. I was knocked for a loop and had to be rescued by my boatman buddy.

We were hanging out at a fraternity brother’s rented house in Lexington. It was a slow weekend and we were just chillin’ and guzzling beer. One of my pledge brothers—I’ll call him Hunter—had consumed much more than I did. New fraternity brothers form a “pledge class” each year and they stay close for decades. There are exceptions; Hunter and I didn’t like each other. You would’ve known that if you had seen him, a loaded .45 in his wobbly hand, the muzzle six inches from my forehead. I reacted by sitting still and keeping my mouth shut. As you might guess, he didn’t pull the trigger. Other brothers talked him down.

Some years later I was once again in deep water and Poseidon almost got me again. I was heading back to Atlanta from Hilton Head. My friends were staying to play golf and gave me a wave as I left. But I didn’t leave. It was a beautiful day and just right for a quick sail, so I rented a boat. That casual sail ended with me astride the hull of a capsized catamaran, being inexorably pulled out into the Atlantic by winds and currents. Two hours late a passing fisherman rescued me.

That sea god had it in for me and years later reappeared as I was diving in the Red Sea. I was getting low on air and popped up to the surface only to see the dive boat—a really, really big and tall boat—heading right at me. Its skipper couldn’t see me and death was coming as its propellers would churn me into hamburger. I turned turtle and kicked myself down to about fifteen feet and safety.

Back to the Beginning: Growing Up

Dad was a small-town lawyer who hated the law. He was a polymath with a primary interest in the classics—Greek and Roman times, literature and myths. He also was fluent in six or seven languages, including Greek and Japanese. Dad left the law and became a Professor of the Classics. Mother was an antiques dealer and collector. They were great parents despite the occasional spankings, which were deserved. Add two younger brothers and we were a prototypical solid, happy, nuclear family. We boys were gifted. We read voraciously, played board games, especially Scrabble, made up various word games. While those things were fun, they were Mother’s effort to stimulate us. 

This is conjecture: I believe I was tested and evaluated when I was very young. My IQ was more than four standard deviations past the mean. Later I took the PSAT, SAT, LSAT and ATGSB (Business SAT) and was in the 99th percentile on all of them.

That’s been a blessing and a curse.

In high school I developed atrocious study habits—I didn’t study. Nevertheless, I won awards and scholarships. When I left for Washington & Lee my parents thought a Rhodes Scholarship was possible, and surely, I would win a Fulbright. 

My first semester disabused them of those dreams, with two Cs, a D and a D-, and an F. That translates to a 1.125 GPA. Remember the movie Animal House? That was my collegiate life. Finally, in my senior year and then in graduate business school I began to use my blessings and actually study. It worked, evinced by a string of 4.0s.

Work

As mentioned in the mini-bio at the end of my OP-EDs, I worked for a huge commercial developer in Atlanta. For years it was the second-largest office building developer in the country, and also a major player in regional malls and warehouses. I was initially tasked with leasing a new office park. My first deal was with Cessna Citation, a lease for 412 square feet. I soon moved into a development manager slot (think a quarterback who manages a team of engineers and contractors as well as our subordinate managers.) The company prospered and so did I, eventually a Senior vice-president running a development division. 

I have an elevator speech to explain this: “The tallest building I helped develop was 612 feet high, the largest was 1.2 million square feet. I ran a 23-building joint venture with AT&T and a five-building partnership with the Duke of Milan. How about UPS’s world headquarters and a building for Duke University? Add consulting for Coca-Cola, Norfolk Southern and others.”

That was big-time and I thought I was, too.

Reality

Until my late thirties I just used intelligence. I never realized that personality, emotions and relationships counted for more. Going through a divorce led me to therapy and brought a sea change in Charlie Houston. I finally was a good guy.

That change was a real boost to my career… and let me move to Virginia and its horse world. With bonuses and partnership interests, I retired young. After a failed marriage I met my wife Emily and life has been great for more than two decades.

Today

We have many trappings of success, which I won’t list. They’ve come at an economic cost, though. I think I’m still a work in progress with a long way to go. My immediate goal is to depend less on mental acuity and let my life experiences give me a measure of wisdom. Some might disagree.

Charlie Houston and his wife live on a historic horse farm near Waterford. When a big cluster subdivision was planned nearby, he was energized to fight it. (He lost.) That led to his becoming a staunch conservationist.