Today I became a professional. I didn’t receive a phone call from the Human Resources Director notifying me that I had gotten my first post-college job. I wasn’t measured for a skirt suit. I did not purchase sharp black heels that resound with a satisfying “clack” when I walk. I didn’t launch my own business. I have not received a coveted promotion with a salary increase. No, I already have a job, a nameplate on my desk, 4 mugs for tea-sipping when the post-lunch coma hits, and a red bag to transport my event files back and forth.
Today two items of personal importance arrived in the mail – a pen and a box of business cards. The business cards denote my function and purpose: name, title, employer, location, and contact information. Just wallet-sized cardstock with purple and black lettering, like all the others on campus. Each one is a temporal object – easily forgotten and quickly discarded once it has served its purpose. And yet, today I feel as though I’ve finally “arrived.” That my childhood “lets-pretend” game of office has suddenly become quite real. For two years I’ve scribbled my name on scraps of paper found at the bottom of my purse and apologized for lacking the magic networking cards. Now, now I am an official Events Manager.
I run my fingertips over the polished wood grain. The pen is heavy and cool to the touch. Hand-crafted and a gift from a friend, the accompanying note reads, “Write for His glory.” I could stow the pen in my desk. How effortless it is to open a blank document, and after staring at the blinking cursor for a few moments, hit the keys in a synchronized fashion. Click. Click. Click. But I long to create. To put the ball of my pen to paper, to compose words of permanence, to construct ink-smeared meaning, and in so doing, to author the existence of some “other.” Now, now I am an official writer.
Today I became a professional – a woman with black fingers and paper cuts.
It is beautiful how we find meaning in the little, inexpensive, simple things of this world. Congratulations on your new initiative and simultaneous "arrival!" Continue to write and treat us to those treasured moments.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to the most gifted writer I've ever known! This is the beginning of something which will bring great satisfaction and fulfillment to you as well as incredible blessings to others. You have that rare ability to draw us, the readers, into your work: to smell the fragrance, to hear the sounds, to drink in the colors and textures and intricate patterns of everyday life. Thanks for sharing your gift.
ReplyDeleteWow! This is a very interesting blog. I just discovered you and I thoroughly enjoyed your blog. You write with such emotion and impact. I hope you write often.
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