Luci’s Magic
Despite valiant efforts by my teachers and my family, I graduated from high school with no idea what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Nothing I considered seemed to fit. Everyone finally decided that practical experience in the real world may help me decide and offered their assistance in finding a job.
I spent 30 years at that job waiting on the inspiration that never came so I retired and welcomed the opportunity for a second chance to get it right; only to find myself with the same questions that I had 30 years earlier so I took the first job I was offered again. After 10+ years at my second job, I was satisfied but not inspired. At almost 60 years of age, I still did not know what I wanted to be when I grew up. I finally decided that whatever my lot in life should have been, it was too late now so I stopped trying to find it.
All that changed when Luci joined our team. I liked her immediately so we soon became friends. One of Luci’s responsibilities was to administer the DiSC assessment to determine our behavioral style. When the time came to discuss my results, we discussed all the different aspects of the results and where I would fit into the hierarchy of the organization. I happened to mention my 40-year quest to find my place. She surprised me by asking me if I had ever considered writing. I laughed and told her no. I had considered many careers in the last 40+ years and even encouraged my husband to try writing, but for me, writing was not something I had ever considered. I am by nature a timid country girl who thought all books were written by geniuses with years of education.
Luci said that she was very serious; that she loved my stories and that she had saved emails I had sent to a group of friends during a family health crisis because they were so well written. My new Fairy Godmother had just waved a magic wand and tapped my soul! I went back to my desk with so many stories bouncing around in my mind, I was sure my co-workers could see my head pulsating. That night, I wrote five pages about a tragic event in my life when I was eleven years old … and I haven’t stopped writing since. Luci not only planted the seed, she also made me believe that I could actually do it and that was no easy task. She is still cheering me on.
That was a year ago and I recently retired for the second and final time to pursue my newfound passion. If this had been discovered in high school, I have to wonder where I would be today. Thankfully, the education system today has many more tools available to help students find their calling than it did 45 years ago.