Best Plans Find You

The Beginning

Shannon closed the blue door for the last time. She expected to be in tears getting into her 4-Runner. She was leaving the house she’d lived in for the last 26 years, the house she’d lived in with her husband, raised her kids in and lived her dream of being a wife and a mom. She was leaving the state that she had lived in most of her life. The final closing of the blue door on 658 Spruce Lane should make a bigger emotional impact. She loaded the dogs into the SUV and took a last look at the house. Taking a deep breath she finally drove off. That’s when it hit. This is last drive down the quiet street and out of her beloved neighborhood. The tears silently slid down her cheeks as she made her way to the highway. She pulled herself together by the time she made it to the on ramp. 

She spent the ride to pick up her brother overthinking her situation because of course she would. What have you gotten me into, Kristen. Shannon thought about her friend of 20 years, plotting, scheming and begging her to move to the east coast. It was a crazy idea. Moving from Northern Colorado to a small coastal town in North Carolina. The job was better than she had even hoped for. And the rental house was perfect for her and the fur faces. Still, she was leaving the majority of her support behind for the lure of the beach and the and crazy shenanigans that seemed a little iffy. 

After saying her goodbyes to her sister, Shannon and her brother Connor, got on the road. Shannon took the first leg, Connor insisting that she make the take the step of her momentous journey herself. Another deep breath and her adventure began. Only 1800 miles to go. 

Two years later. 

Well, that did not go as planned, Shannon thought as she sipped her hot tea. The rain came in heavy as promised by the budding Facebook meteorologist and Shannon watched the tree take the relentless deluge. The trees seemed to be a metaphor for her life. She seemed to be under a constant battle as well. 

She thought about how she had come to this point; midlife with no job and no prospects. Rejection was beginning to take a toll. This was so far from the life she had imagined for herself. Plan A: Happy Housewife. Plan B: Happy widow with two kids. Plan C: Happy college student with two kids. The plans are evolving but none seem to become what she envisions. 

So, how do I become the person I’ve created in my head? Is that even possible? Can I just create my life, make myself be what I want? 

Shannon, took her empty cup into the kitchen and made another cup and a piece of toast. She sat at the dining room table and opens her laptop. Job hunting sucks. It sucks even more when you don’t want to do what you have spent the last 10 years doing. Administrative work is boring. She had spent way too much time dwelling on her regrets. All the bemoaning decisions that could have changed the course of her fate was wasted energy. Suck it up, Shanny.

She tells Jackson, “Now, I just have to get a job and do what I have to do so I can do what I want to do in my free time,” The job boards yielded little, but Shannon threw out a few resumes. “One of these is going to be the perfect fit, right?” Jackson, her yellow lab, looked up at her unsympathetically. He seems less interested in Shannon’s existential crisis and more in the little bit of toast that remains on the blue plate. Rude. 

“The real question is what do I WANT to do?” She took a sip of tea, Jackson kept his eye on the toast. Design. Art. Write. Design. Doodle. Am I even qualified or talented enough?  She took a deep breath and her mind was catapulted back to her previous life. Back to when she had unconditional support and love from her husband. The floodgates opened and the tears mirrored the storm outside. She sobbed, head in her hands. Jackson, put his head on Shannon’s lap, the hope of a table scrap momentarily forgotten. 

Shannon stroked the dogs soft head, the warmth of the little furry face seeped into her. She pulled herself together, wiped her eyes and blew her nose. Jackson, sensing the crisis was over, returned his attention to the long hoped for bit of bread. “Fine you dozy dog. It’s gone cold anyway” Shannon said as she slipped the toast into the dogs mouth. He took it ever so gently and thankfully quietly, lest Iris the chocolate lab hear the tasty bite being consumed.  

  Shannon logged into her email where there were no interview requests and no job offers. But no outright rejections either. She hopped onto the job boards to see the same jobs that she saw yesterday. After another torture session of applying for jobs that offered too little money and too much tedium, Shannon took a break and sank herself into a world of mountains and dragons. She heard the ding of an email notification. After this chapter, she promised. 

Halfway into the next chapter, Shannon jumped as the phone shattered the silence. It was Kristen. She hesitated. She didn’t know if she could put on a brave face and she didn’t feel up to exposing her broken self right now. She took a deep breath and answered the phone. 

“Hello?” She tried to sound cheerful.

“Hey, bestie!” Kristen said. She had a way of sounding excited without being loud.

“Hey there, Cray Bay,” Shannon’s favorite nick name for her friend who always had the outlandish ideas. Some were crazy great, some were just crazy. However, they were always entertaining. Crazy Babe got shortened to Cray Bay. 

“So who pooped in your flowers?” Kristen always had a way of seeing through Shannon’s mask. 

Shannon felt the tears welling up. “Still unemployed”, she said shakily. “I’m so frustrated”.

The tears escaped her eyes and slid down her cheeks. 

“Oh, so am I interrupting the ‘Sorry for Myself’ party or are we heading into the ‘Let’s Figure This Out’ party?” Kristen said. “I’m just need to know what to wear”, Kelly could hear Kristen bite into something crunchy. 

“Shut up, A-hole”, Shannon retorted. “This job market is tough, and before you say, ‘But you need to be tougher’ don’t,” 

Kristen ate another chip. “Okay, so we are going sad. All my sad outfits are in the wash. Best I can do is a’ light blue, let me hear what you’ve done’ and maybe we can get to the good party. I hear they have drinks,” Shannon just knew that Kristen was smirking on the other end.

“Whatever,” Shannon quipped. She couldn’t help from being amused by Kristen’s eternal optimism. 

“I’ll just throw on my thinking cap and head over, “ Kristen said. Kristen literally had a cap that said, “Shhh…I’m thinking” written on it. 

“Bring whiskey,” Shannon said, already feeling better. 

It had been a week since Shannon’s Pity/Brainstorming party with Kirsten and Shannon’s optimism was starting to fade slightly. She opened her email. E-bills, promotions she never subscribed to. Then an interesting subject line; Personal Assistant Wanted. The email read:

Hi, 

I wanted to reach out to inquire about your possible interest in an opportunity to assist a prominent architect and property investor in his transition to his semi-retirement to the east coast and start up as partner in small construction company in Cape Cateret, NC. Your knowledge of the construction industry and project coordination seems like it would be a good fit for this role.

Duties would include

Sort and distribute emails

Assist in house hunt

Assist in commercial property 

Coordinate house and appliance delivery

Assist in setting up project coordination procedures 

Other duties as assigned

Some duties could be performed remotely. Others would be on site in North Carolina. This position would be a two year contract at $110,000 per year.

Please contact Melissa O’ Tool at your earliest convenience to set up an interview.

Thank you,

Melissa McCarthy

m.mccarthy@omallyandassociates.com

303-555-6858

Shannon read the email three times. Was this real? She looked at the time on her monitor. Too early to call? It was only 5:12 am Colorado time. Eh, it’s probably a work phone. She could leave a message. She called and tried not to sound desperate. 

“Guess what came in my inbox this morning?”, She tried to sound nonchalant. She explained the email to Kristen.

“Oh my gosh, girl!” Kristen squealed. “That sounds so perfect!” 

“I know,” Shannon took a bite of toast. “Too bad it’s only a two year contract. Should I do it?”. She surprised herself by not even adding the ‘IF I get the position’ doubt that was creeping at the edges of her thoughts. But she did really believe that this was a great fit. She was excelled at seeing the big picture so searching for properties was right up her ally. 

“Of course you should do it. Even if it only lasts the two years, you’re going to gain so much experience doing things that you are really good at,” Kristen said. 

After two phone interviews and a FaceTime interview, she received an official offer one week after receiving the email. Shannon knew Kristen was right but she was still nervous about not having a traditional permanent position. After contemplating, she accepted the offer and signed the contract. She was going to get a bruise from the amount of times she’d pinched herself.

Shannon left her tiny rental to meet Kristen for a celebratory dinner. “Girl, you must be so excited,” Shannon said after they had gotten their drinks. “When do you start?”

“I’ve already started but it’s mostly onboarding stuff,” Shannon took a sip of her whisky and soda. “I’m still in training phase but I have started looking at commercial properties that are for rent and for sale, so that’s kind of cool,”.

“That sounds exciting,” Kristen said.

They chatted about Shannon’s job, Kristen’s love life, Shannon’s lack of a love life. Life finally felt okay. Shannon felt like she could breath again. It was the best night she’d had in a long time. 

Years later, she would look back and think about the events that led to the life she had experience because of her her choice to move 1800 miles from home. She had been able to build on her design and artistic skills to build a design business. She owned an antique store that specialized in architectural salvage. She had partial ownership in the construction company and was part owner of a local restaurant. She really was living the life of her dreams. Sometimes closing doors is a good thing. 

The End…And A New Beginning