Maybe Everything Does Happen For A Reason

Being a working mom is challenging; basically everyone knows that. Around 10 years ago, I attempted to go back to work full-time and become one of those working moms. My three kids were so little and we were going through the adoption process with Kaleb.

There was a lot going on and honestly, it was an epic failure. My heart wasn’t in it and I missed my kids so much all of the time. So, I couldn’t focus and didn’t really do a good job. I tried but I couldn’t do it. So, this was officially the one and only time I got fired.

I am obviously quite embarrassed about it and wouldn’t have admitted this if it didn’t segway into a better story.

And Now It’s Present Day.

Cut to Brian enduring a conference call on his day off. He was in what I would call a toxic work environment and had been hanging in there because he is a trooper. But listening to the boss threatening all of the managers on his day off was about all he could take.

He opened Indeed while on the call. He saw Angelwood and applied. Angelwood is a non-profit organization that works with individuals with disabilities. They were opening a thrift store and were hiring a store manager. Perfect, right?

You Did What?

When Brian texted me to tell me that he applied, I was initially freaked out. I was worried that my existence would hurt his chances. I was thinking that maybe he shouldn’t tell them that he is married to me. But it turns out that I didn’t have anything to worry about.

Because when they called him, she knew exactly who he was, who I was and “our story.” So maybe I wasn’t going to sabotage his chances after all!

Anyway, Brian got the job. He hired his people, put the store together, and just plain impressed them with his skills. The grand opening was a few weeks ago and I’m so proud of him.

Brian is in the non-profit world now; he is in my wheel house. He is doing an amazing job. He feels like he is doing something that really matters. Because it does.

But that didn’t change the fact that I had to face my former boss again.

One day, Brian picked me up from work (because our jobs are now 2 minutes apart and we carpool.) and we went back to his store so he could touch base with his current boss/my former boss.. I stayed in the car to finish by schoolwork but if I’m honest, I was sort of avoiding seeing her.

No such luck because Brian came to the car to “drag” me out to say hi, haha.

So I go say hello with affected casualness and she was genuinely happy to see me. She asked if she could hug me and we moved on to gushing about Brian.

Closure!

With this simple moment, a weight on me was lifted off and I was able to finally forgive myself for failing the working mom experiment. I could let it go because clearly she has.

Life is funny and hard. For years, I have emotionally avoided Angelwood, now I’m getting ready to be a plus one at their holiday party. But, if I never worked at Angelwood, Brian may not have noticed the ad. They wouldn’t have known us and who we were and they might haven’t called. On and on. (Of course, they would have still called because Brian is extremely qualified but you get the point.)

After all of these years, I feel that I can look back on the good times and not see it as a failure. That’s a big deal, ya’ll.