Strange but Sure

Not sure what was stranger - being given the boot from BISYS within four hours of returning to work after taking time off on the American Family Medical Leave Act ~OR~ realizing half-way home that MOM was behind the bizarre situation.

Seriously - that really happened. Was sobbing as I pulled out of the company parking lot in Springhouse, beyond baffled at the bizarre turn of events, but at a Willow Grove red light, the tears stopped abruptly as it dawned on me ~ ~ "This is Mom's doing - she NEVER thought the corporate world was the right place for me."

Knew it. In my bones. And through all the funky things that have happened over the past 10 years, that strange surety has never wavered. Not when my income went from well-above adequate & growing to zip & no benefits. Not when I would, time & again, get three interviews with a big company, then never get an offer. Not now, when we once again face the loss of our house due to taxes.

Now, I know WHY. Quite simple ~ my church & school have need of me.

Have need of all the talents & skills, affections & interests I've spent a lifetime developing.

Have need of someone who felt like I had no place within my community, in spite of being a 4th generation member of the church & lifelong Bryn Athynite; of someone who never felt, from K-college, like I had a place in my class; of someone who didn't even feel a sense of place in my own family.

Yet with all that being so, I cannot remember a time that I didn't have a strong sense of place, of belonging, of rest, in the ideals of the Academy & the values of my faith.

And to top that off, I knew in my bones that the way things seemed to be wasn't the way they were meant to be. Through persistence & inner fortitude, I worked at finding that better place and - in my late 50s - finally turned that for-so-long elusive corner.

What I can bring to the table is the ability to work OUT of feeling outside. And the means to make it happen for the many.

I am invaluable to my church & school because I've been outside AND found my way to belonging, to basking in a sense of connection.

My church & my school have made incredible strides over my adulthood, but there are a lot of people out there who seem to not feel a sense of connection to the organizations. My marketing background combines with my own experience to shout from the rooftops that connection comes from a stirring of affections.

I get that & believe that I can - through volunteer efforts, NOT in a paid position - help my church & schools reach out & give a sense of place to the lifelong loyalists, the sometime boosters, the rare but occasional contributors, and especially the currently disenfranchised.

I am where my Mom directed me just a shade over 10 years ago - taking first steps on a new path that already encourages me to be the person I am, taking the risk of being genuine, even if it means seeming to some that I am way outside the accepted norm, beyond outrageous.

It may be a strange path to many, but it's a sure path to me. And to Mom.