The Road Not Taken

A few months back I was looking for a part time job, to help pay for my husband’s mounting medical bills and to fill my time with something other than “cancer-worry”. A good friend of mine told me about an opening at a medical office where she worked; it was a part time front desk position.

I realized this wasn’t the dream job I had gone to college 5 years for, but I needed a job that would allow me to help with my husband with his medical appointments, be at home when my kids were home from school, and shuttle the kids to their after school activities. My friend thought the office would be flexible enough to allow me to work during my children's school hours. Unfortunately when I went in to interview for the job, I was told they needed someone to work from
1 P.M. to 5 P.M. I was also told by the office manager the last time they advertised this job position they had over 500 applicants. I should feel very lucky, because they were offering me the job on the spot. (The fact that my friend, who worked there, had recommended me carried a lot of clout.)

Nothing like pressure! I was so torn, I knew I needed the job, and it was a good one. But, the hours were all wrong. I needed to be home when my kids were at home. My children needed as much stability as possible while my husband was going through cancer treatments. I didn’t feel good about accepting the job, so reluctantly, I turned it down.

Afterwards, I kept wondering how I could have made this job possibly work, but I soon learned the position had been filled. I couldn't believe I had turned this job down in the current economy.

Life has its curious twists and turns, and in less than a month, a friend of mine asked me if I would like to work for her family business. They needed someone to work part time, from 10 A.M. to
2 P.M. The pay was almost the same as the medical position I had interviewed for. I was thrilled at the opportunity and quickly accepted the job. The hours of work slipped easily into my life. The past month of work has passed by quickly, but being a woman I have wondered if I made the “best decision”, and have pondered what the “road not taken” (or in this situation, the “job not taken”) would have been like. In this case, I found out.

Today I spoke with my friend who works at the medical office. She said yesterday, the lady who was working at the front desk (and that probably would have been ME if I had accepted the job) had taken the office garbage out to the large dumpster behind the office building at 5 P.M. She was attacked by a man wearing a hoodie and a surgical mask, he beat her and repeatedly slammed her face against the sidewalk. She was finally able to turn and scratch her attacker’s eyes and get away.

There had never been anything like this happen in the building complex, this was the first time. It haunted me that the lady who interviewed me had this happen to her. But what bothered me more is knowing that I would have been the one taking out the trash at that time, if I had accepted the job!

Sometimes I'll never know what “the road not taken” is like. Sometimes, in rare occasions like this, I have been given a glimpse. Whew! I’m counting my blessings.