What can I say? I’m a Jack of all trades. In the last 10 years, I’ve had four different careers. I know what you’re thinking, “She doesn’t look old enough to have had four careers!” Well, I can assure you that I’m 31 and it’s definitely possible, but I am flattered that you think I look so young. I’ve been a specialty retail manager, aquatic director at a non-profit, senior shareholder services rep for a mutual fund company and most recently an esthetician. Being a member of what I like to call the Oprah generation, I went back to school three years ago to follow my passion of all things skin and become an esthetician. As an esthetician, I was certain that I’d heard my calling. I still know that I would love, love, love for this to be where I stay but sometimes a higher power knows what’s best for us. After working in the spa industry for a year, I’d made the transition into, what I thought was, a more professional medical setting: a laser center. It was September 2010 and I was very excited knowing that I was taking a step closer to getting my career where I wanted it to be. Unfortunately, I lost my job after almost three months. I was devastated! I went over the whole scenario in my head so many times. What did I do wrong? Could I have done anything differently? To further explain, I had my annual lady doctor’s appointment on a Thursday afternoon and had to work the following day. At this appointment, I found out that I had endometriosis and something was wrong with one of my ovaries. They needed to do an ultrasound. It could have been one of a few things; slight inflammation, a cyst or something more serious causing my ovary to be removed. I’ve previously had procedures to remove cancerous cells, so I was extremely scared with this possible prognosis. When I went to work on Friday, I told my boss and the assistant manager. I wanted to give them the heads up about the possibility of needing time off. My boss was comforting and actually sent me home for the day. The next day, Saturday, I received a call from her notifying me of my termination. I had been performing above standards and had actually talked to her about a promotion earlier in the week! I was completely blindsided and felt it was all because of my possible health issues. How could someone do this to me? Did she not even care? To this day, I wonder how she lives with herself. I’d never been fired, laid off or terminated in my life. My family and friends were very supportive and although I was not terminated due to merit issues, I couldn’t help but feel like a failure.
At the time, it was impossible to see the silver lining. The economy sucked and I was finding it impossible to find a new job. I’d just gotten married, was my husband going to resent me for not pulling my weight? What was the purpose of this happening to me? Why did I deserve this? In about two months, I would find my answer. A month later, the ultrasound proved I have polycystic ovarian syndrome. Combined with the endometriosis, it could be hard to conceive. I was just relieved that I would be able to! That two months later that I referred to earlier, that is almost exactly when we found out that we were expecting our first child. What a miracle! We were shocked. I was now entering official housewife status, isn’t that what all girls want….
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