She sat on the edge of her bed wide awake at 3 am. Her was head throbbing from the migraine from hell that she had been fighting for over a week, and her little dog was laying at the foot of the bed staring at her as if to say, "what are you doing up at this hour?" It was one of those nights where she couldn't decide whether she was hot or cold, sleepy or wide awake, and it was frustrating.
After trying all the good sleep hygiene techniques, she had been taught to battle insomnia, she gave up and pulled out her laptop to do some work. If she couldn't sleep, she would try to be productive. She checked her work email and found only one new email, but to answer it, she needed information that was only available in her office at work. It would have to wait until the workday.
Discovering there was really nothing she could do for work, she turned to surfing the net to occupy herself. The New York Times Wordle seemed like a good choice. She solved it in three tries! Not bad for a migraine day. She checked local professional and college football information. The pros were not doing well, but her college team seemed to be on a roll. Go Cougs!
She heard a heavy sigh come from the end of the bed and looked at her little chihuahua Ripley. It was after 4am. Wanting to get more rest, she attempted to go back to sleep since she had set her alarm for 6 am. So, she put away the laptop and curled up under the blankets. As she reached up to turn off the light Ripley came up and curled up next to her ribs and laid her head on her side. In the dark, she reached over and scratched the little dog's ears and said a small thank you for her love.
The next thing she knew, her alarm was singing to her to the tune of P!nk's anthem "Raise Your Glass," with the goal of waking her up. A small grunt escaped her lips as she reached over to turn the alarm off and turn the light back on. She sat up and put her feet on the floor, getting ready to stand up and head to the bathroom to start the day. Another grunt slipped out as the feel of the cold floor reached her brain.
After taking care of business in the bathroom, she slipped on her boots and jacket so she could take Ripley out for her morning bio break. It was part of their morning routine to go walking around the parking lot of the condo complex they lived in so Ripley could potty and smell all the interesting smells of her world. A light drizzle was waiting for them as they went out the front door and out onto the walkway. Ripley was not happy with the dampness, but she knew she had to go for her walk just the same.
The morning sky was lightening with the rising sun in the east. Pale pinks and oranges were tinting the clouds on the horizon, mixing into the grey one's overhead that were dropping into the morning drizzle. The lights in the parking lot illuminated the pathway just enough to keep her from slipping on the wet leaves on the ground and to find Ripley's potty when she made a number two just off the sidewalk and on the grass.
With the morning's business taken care of, the two returned to the warmth of the little condo and breakfast. A small bowl of kibble for Ripley and eggs, toast, and a glass of orange juice for her. The two of them ate quietly and quickly in the kitchen. Ripley had a special placemat for her food dish and water bowl, and she stood by the kitchen counter and enjoyed the warmth of the toast and eggs. The tang of the juice danced on her tongue as she sipped it down.
With breakfast finished and the dishes put into the dishwasher, she headed into the bathroom to brush her teeth and fix her hair for the day. She put on a touch of make-up and called herself ready to get dressed. The next big question was what to wear to work? A dress? A skirt and sweater? Pants and a sweater? She opted for the outfit that didn't need to be ironed. Blue pants and a red sweater with navy blue embellishments on it were the pick for the day. Comfy and warm.
As she grabbed her bag for work, she popped back into the kitchen and snagged the lunch she had packed last night and tossed it into the bag along with a diet Dr. Pepper. She was ready to face the day. She gave Ripley a few scratches behind her perky ears, said goodbye, and headed out the door.
Her green Chevy Impala waited for her in her assigned covered parking spot, just like every morning. It was an older car, but it still purred like a kitten when it started. The heater worked like a dream during the winter, and the AC churned out the cool air like a champ in the summer. She had put in a nice stereo system about a year ago and a backup camera, so it felt like a new fancy car to her. Best of all, it was completely paid for.
As she hit the end of the driveway, she had to wait for a few stray cars before she could drive out onto the street. Turning left usually took some time, but this morning traffic was lighter than usual. She popped on her favorite 80s 90s and more radio station and headed toward the office. An upbeat song by Wham came on just as the next light turned red and she danced along as she waited for it to turn green. She knew the man in the car next to her was watching her, but she didn't care. She was enjoying the energy of the upbeat tune and sang along as she danced in her car. As the light turned green, she slowly stepped on the gas and pulled forward. The man in the car next to her pulled out quickly and sped down the street.
Fifteen minutes later, she pulled into the parking lot of her office at the local community college. She worked in the Career Services office, helping students look for jobs as they finished their education and were ready to head back into the workforce. Today would be a busy day because they were having a career fair on campus and there would be over 30 different employers on campus looking to hire their students.
As was usual, she was the first one in the office, so she turned on all the lights and the computers. She enjoyed being the first one there and getting the place ready for the day. There was a sense of peace first thing in the morning that tended to wear off fast as the day got going. Once the first students came in, they broke the spell, and the peace disappeared. The buzz of business took over, and it didn't stop until they locked the doors at the end of the day.
When Marta, the career center front desk coordinator, arrived, she left to go to the student center where the career fair would take place to make sure everything was ready for the big event. All the tables were in place, with chairs behind them. The few that had asked for power had extension cords set up for them. She walked around and placed the name tags she had made yesterday on the tables, arranging them according to the layout she had carefully crafted to create a pleasant flow of like businesses linked for students to find the ones related to their area of study easily. Everything was ready. They just needed to arrive.
"Hi Maggie! Everything the way you wanted it?" asked Luke, the head of facilities.
"Exactly what I wanted! Thank you, Luke!" she replied. "I'll be back in one hour to make sure I greet everyone when they get here."
Maggie headed back to her office to gather all the sign-in paperwork and make sure the food for the employers was going to be delivered on time. She called the caterer to verify that they knew where and when to deliver it and found out it was already on the way.
Once she had everything she needed, she headed back to the student center and set up her welcome table, made sure the employer room was ready, and had her packets for employers and students ready to hand out. Just as she finished fussing over her table, the catering team arrived, and she directed them to set up the food in the designated area. As she returned to the welcome table, the first employer arrived with their load of visual aids and handouts.
Maggie directed them to their table in the area for manufacturing employers. Slowly, the tables filled in and students started showing up to talk with the employers.
Maggie had spent the last several weeks preparing her students for this event. She held resume workshops, mock interviews, and workshops on elevator pitches. Students that were serious about getting a job were ready for the career fair and should do well at getting good job leads. She knew a few would have a hard time, but there were several that could walk away with a potential job offer.
As the energy of the fair ebbed and flowed, Maggie walked around and visited many of the tables. She wanted to check in with the employers and make sure they were having an enjoyable experience on her campus so they would return to the next career fair as well as be willing to meet with her students at other times.
She stopped at a table for an engineering company that was looking to hire drafters and started talking with the man at the table. They were new to the career fair on campus, and she wanted to make sure they would come back. They had the potential to be an excellent employer for their students.
He was tall and had dark hair and brown eyes. She felt like she had met him before but wasn't able to place where she could know him from. High school? College? She just couldn't figure out where she knew him from.
"Hi, I'm Maggie from the career center. I hope everything is going well for you. Is there anything you need?" she asked.
"Hi Maggie, I'm Andrew, Andy really. We are doing great. You have a lot of outstanding students here. There are a few we want to interview. Is there somewhere here that we could interview them today?" He replied.
"I'm sure I can find you a room. Give me a few minutes to find one nearby and I'll get back to you!" she said. "I'll be right back."
Quickly, Maggie walked over to the student activities office to see if she could use one of their small meeting rooms. After checking with their front desk, she returned to let Andy know she had a space for him to use nearby.
"Oh my gosh, so fast! Thanks!" he said. "We really are very excited about three candidates and would like to get them going fast if possible."
"Wow! That is really exciting." Said Maggie. "Let me know when you are ready for the room, and I'll show you where it is."
"Perfect! Will do!" he replied.
Maggie finished her rounds of all the tables and when back to her check-in table to make sure everything was still under control. All was going as planned, and Maggie took a seat and a few sips of her diet soda. She needed a little caffeine to keep her going for the last hour of the fair and the cleanup.
The last hour of the fair flew by quickly. Maggie lost track of how many students visited the fair. Thank goodness she had student workers keeping track of who signed in and who seemed to come by without signing in. She would need the numbers to document the success of the time and effort that went into putting on the career fair. It was part of the mandate of her office, but they still had to prove to the powers that be that it was worth all the effort just the same.
They had also asked the employers to keep count of how many people stopped at their tables. They would collect that information from them as the fair ended. Accreditation was coming up, and they needed all the data they could get to use for their reports.
While most employers were getting ready to leave, Andy approached Maggie at the check-in table to inquire about the location of the room for interviewing the three potential hires. She quickly showed him where the room was and asked if he would let her know how things turned out, again, to collect data of course! Giving him her business card, she mentioned he could reach out to her for any relevant post-interview information or for help with hiring college students, then said goodbye.
After cleaning up the student center, Maggie took a well-deserved break. In the small room in the career center, they used as a lunchroom; she sat and nibbled on her lunch while letting her mind wander. Maggie was tired of thinking official thoughts. She just wanted to relax for a little while and not think about anything important for five minutes in a row. Of course, that was not to be.
Maggie got up and answered the knock on the door. To her surprise, it wasn't one of the student workers; Andy was standing there.
"Sorry to interrupt your lunch, but I wanted to let you know the good news in person. We offered jobs to all three of the students we interviewed today! They were outstanding." He said. "We are going to start them out very part-time while they finish school and then move them up to full time once they graduate."
"Wow! You work fast." Replied Maggie.
"Well, when I see something I like, I go for it. And I liked those students a lot. You have a very strong program here. They are going to be a great addition to our organization." He explained.
"I see you grabbed a sandwich from our employer's room. Would you like to join me for lunch?" asked Maggie, as she showed he should take a seat at the table.
"That would be great! I didn't stop talking during the entire career fair, then did three interviews. I'm starving. I'd love to stop and eat before heading back to the office." Said Andy as he took the chair across from her.
"I know this is going to sound goofy, but you seem insanely familiar to me. Have we met before?" Maggie asked between bites of her salad.
"You know, I've been thinking the same thing about you, too. I just can't figure out where I know you from or who you remind me of," Answered Andy.
As they ate their lunches, they compared where they went to high school and college, compared notes on middle school and elementary school as well. It wasn't until Maggie mentioned having had a pen pal in middle school that she thought she might have gone to the same school Andy had gone to that they realized the connection.
"My pen pal had a nickname; I never really knew his real name. He went by Sparky because he liked electronics and kept taking electrical things apart," Explained Maggie.
"Oh My God!" Andy exclaimed. "You are Margaret May Mitchel!"
"NO! Sparky? Really?" she asked as she laughed. "I can't believe that after all these years, I run into you."
"I do electrical engineering at the firm now. I still love things that have to do with electronics. Now I get to help design them." He said. "I can't believe that after all these years, I finally get to meet the girl that changed my life!"
"Changed your life? How did I do that? I was only eleven years old." she asked.
"You kept telling me to believe in myself and believe in my dreams. To do the things I wanted to do and be who I was, even if my family didn't understand." He said. "They never understood my curiosity. My brothers were jocks, and they would beat me up for not being one, too. They didn't understand why I was so excited about school. But now I'm an Engineer and one sells tires and the other works at Walmart. And that's all because a girl in a faraway town encouraged me to continue to study and be smart!"
"I remember your brothers used to bully you. I was just trying to be a good friend. I'm glad it helped!"
"What about you? How did you end up working at a college from the little girl that wanted to be an astronaut?" Andy asked.
"I started taking science classes in high school and realized it wasn't for me, but I was always the one that my friends came to for help with their problems, so I ended up going into working with people," Maggie explained. "Career counseling is just something I fell into, but I love it. And I'm great at it too. So that helps!"
"Wow, that's great. What about the rest of your life? Anyone special?" he asked as he continued to eat his sandwich.
"Does a bossy little chihuahua name Ripley count?" She asked with a chuckle. "She has me trained really well to do her bidding."
"My dog Max is the same way. He is bigger. He is a Golden doodle." Andy replied. "He loves little dogs. We should get them together for a puppy play date if Ripley likes big dogs."
"Oh, she loves all boy dogs. She is a bit of a flirt!" Maggie said with a laugh. "It would be great to get together and get caught up some more. Let me give you my cell number so we can talk later. I must get back into the office now for a few meetings this afternoon."
The two exchanged cell phone numbers and agreed to get together soon to catch up on everything that has happened since middle school. As Andy grabbed his bag and headed out to leave, he turned and gave Maggie a brief hug.
"What a great day! I got to hire three amazing new employees and reconnect to someone that changed my life back when I was a kid. What more could I ask for?" he breathed in her ear during the hug.
"It has been a great day! I'm glad we reconnected!" she replied.
After Andy left, Maggie made her way back to her office and checked her email and voice mail. There was nothing that couldn't wait to be answered until the next day, which gave her time to go through the checkout sheets from the employers that had attended the career fair.
The numbers looked good for visits to each table, as did the number for potential interviews the employers were expecting having with students that had visited them. Knowing that Andy's firm had already hired three students was a bonus on the day. The career fair was a success.
Maggie's last meeting of the day was with the Dean of Students. She needed to report on how the career fair went and how well attended all the prep workshops had been leading up to it. Budget cuts had been hard on the school and the Dean wanted to make sure she still had the resources she needed to help students get jobs when they were ready to go back into the workforce.