Between watching her 4-year-old son and waiting on customers, Cindy Holland has little time to rest.
Every morning at 6:30 a.m. Holland, 32, opens the Holland General Store in Frog Pond, several miles from her home in Holland, Tenn.
Cindy and her mother-in-law, Bonnie, bought the store in 1984 when Cindy’s seven-year-old daughter, Hannah was 10 weeks old. The children often come to work with her.
Holland has had the opportunity to take other jobs, but she said working in the store allows her to be with her children more than most working mothers.
However, the 6-to12-hour days sometimes get to her.
“I haven’t had a vacation in eight years,” she said.
When she’s not at the store, she’s home cleaning, cooking dinner, or helping her husband, Ricky, strip tobacco.
She said being with her children is important because she’s been able to see them speak their first words and take their first steps. She wants to see them grow into adults who believe in themselves.
“I always tell her (Hannah) that she can be whatever she wants to be when she grows up.”
