The Worst Of Times, The Best of Times

I had been waiting by the phone all day. My heart was racing. My palms were wet. I paced my small apartment, walking from the large picture window on the west side to the kitchen sink on the east.

It was October. The leaves on the oak tree outside were turning yellow. Night came quicker and the mornings were colder. And I was in my third year of law school.

Going to law school hadn't been easy.  I was supporting myself with a little help from Mom and Dad.  My tuition was being paid through student loans that would take me thirty years to repay.  I worked three jobs to pay for rent and food.

I ate a lot of store brand peanut butter for breakfast and dinner.  I didn't have cable TV.  I wore lots of sweaters to save on heat.  I didn't go anywhere or do anything.  Except for class, I didn't drive my car because I couldn't afford to pay for gas.  But that was all about to change.

The big law firms in Philly would be announcing their decisions on who they would hire after graduation. I was waiting for the phone call that would tell me that my future was set.

Despite my jitters, I felt pretty good. I had worked hard and I had studied hard. I had the highest grade point average in my class. I had courted one of the biggest and most prestigious law firms in the city. The interviews, I believed, had gone very well. All I needed now was to finalize the details.

When the phone rang, I jumped. Get a hold of yourself, I thought. This is the moment you have been waiting for.

I prepared myself to accept a high powered, high paying job at a big city law firm. I was ready to carry a brief case and wear a suit. I was ready for an upgrade in my apartment and a fancy new car.  This was my day. I would land my dream job. I was ready to face my destiny.

I plucked the phone from its cradle and gave my most confident “Hello”.

After a few pleasantries the voice on the other line said, “We’re sorry but we don’t feel that you would be a good fit for our firm.”

There was more conversation; but I don’t remember it. I had stopped listening. I had stopped breathing. My heart had stopped beating. I had stopped living.

I had been rejected.

Rejected. Turned down. Thrown out. Declined. Dismissed. Discarded. Refused. Rebuffed. Snubbed. Spurned. Not good enough. A failure. There weren’t enough words in the thesaurus to describe how discouraged I felt.

It was one of the best days of my life.

Instead of my dream job, I ended up working for a third tier law firm doing menial work and being thoroughly unappreciated. I spent all my waking hours working and was considerably underpaid. I worked on the Fourth of July. I worked on Easter. I worked on Thanksgiving. I worked on Christmas. I worked until I couldn’t work anymore. It pretty much sucked.  I hated it.

I know what you’re thinking. Didn’t you just say being rejected from your dream job was one of the best days of your life? You’re right. I did say that. It’s not a typo. Let me explain.

At the crappy job, I met my friend Bill. Bill hated his crappy job as much as I hated mine. He applied for a got a new job at a better firm. A few weeks later, Bill clued me in that his new firm was hiring. I landed that job.

Being rejected from my dream job led to the crappy job.  The crappy job led to my new and better job. My new and better job led to a promotion and a transfer to Illinois. The transfer to Illinois led to a better way of living. The better way of living led to the birth of my three children. The birth of my three children led to the happiest days of my life.

At times, I reflect back on what I thought would be my dream job. What would have happened if the voice on the phone had said, “We’d like to offer you a position”? How would my life have turned out?

Here’s what I learned. When you are standing on the Path of Life, your vision is myopic.  It's hard to see exactly where you are and where you are going. After you’ve moved down the path a bit further, it’s easier to stop, to turn around, to look back, and to assess where you have been. That’s when you can appreciate the twists and turns and bumps that got you to where you needed to be.

Now, I watch as some of my family members and friends are struggling. They are at the bumps in the road. I hope that I can give them courage that the bumps they are hitting today are most likely so they can find the right path to where they are suppose to be in the future.

If you are reading this and you are on the bumpy path, my advice to you is to be patient. Right now, it may be difficult to see the road you are on and where it is taking you. But soon, when you have moved further down your Life’s Path, you will be able to turn around and see the bumps and appreciate how they led you to the place you were suppose to be.

In the end, I’m glad I didn’t get my dream job. I’m happy that I ended up exactly where I was supposed to be. I’m thankful for that day that I was rejected. Because on that day, I was able to set off on the Life Path to my true destiny.