what did Aaron Giebel justify to his wife as "a salute to our success"?

We are introduced to people like Aaron Giebel of Midland, Odessa’s nearby sister city. He is one example of the many powerful men in West Texas that felt they were captains of their own capitalist fortunes. They won and lost millions of dollars. Despite their belief that they are masters of their own destinies, they are really always at the mercy of OPEC oil and the global oil market. By 1988 the oil economy is a bust. While oil machines lie in the wasteland like rotting carcasses, people like Aaron Giebel know that they are just one Middle East conflict away from reclaiming their destiny.