ROAD NOT TAKEN

by Just Lin

It was 1996 when Jennifer and I first started working together.  She helped train me on the computer program and other office protocol at the animal hospital.  Although I had worked in the field before, there was much to learn at my new place of employment.  Jennifer was smart and fast.  Actually, she was rather frenetic.  True, it was a very busy and sometimes chaotic practice, but still, Jennifer was like the Energizer Bunny; go, go, go.  It soon became noticeable that she took an unusual number of  bathroom breaks.  I heard from a reliable source that she was seen emerging from the restroom with white powder around her nostrils.  After a while, there started to be incidences where money was missing from the cash drawer at the end of the day.  One night the hospital was broken into and whoever did it went straight to some particular drugs and didn't touch anything else.  Some of us wondered if these events could be traced back to Jennifer.  There was no evidence, just a nagging suspicion.

One of Jennifer's projects was to work on some older client charts.  She was allowed to take them home to work on them.  The last time she did this she didn't return to work a couple of days later when expected.  A few more days passed and then we learned that she had taken the charts with her when she drove to LA with her boyfriend.  While there, they were arrested and held on drug charges and the boyfriend's car was impounded.  The charts were returned to us but it was the end of Jennifer's employment.  I never learned what happened on her court date.

Sometime over the past year, I started spotting Jennifer down at our local shopping center.  I only saw her a few times and always from afar, never close enough to say hello. On those few occasions that I did see her, she was with a little boy and I observed that she was very patient and loving with him.  I also saw her drive away in a very nice SUV. I hadn't seen her in many years, but because of my past experience with her, I wondered if she was now working as a nanny or, if the boy was hers, perhaps she and her boy were living with her parents. 

A few days ago, I ran into Jennifer at the grocery store.  She was with a little boy who was older than the one I'd seen her with before.  She was looking at produce and was only a few feet away so I turned to her and said, "Hello, Jennifer".  She looked at me, raised her eyebrows and smiled.  Her expression was open and friendly as she leaned in close to me and said, "I don't know who you are."  LOL  How refreshing!  I always try to fake it when I don't know someone I'm supposed to know.

Okay, it was a long time ago that we worked together and I've lost some weight and my hair is darker, but still..........we had worked side by side, closely, for at least a year.   I reminded her of who I was and then I could see the light of recognition in her eyes.  She seemed genuinely happy to see me and she introduced me to her 8 year old son, who had impeccable manners, and told me she was married and had another son, age 3.  She said a lot had changed in her life since we worked together and I could certainly see that was true.  Of all the scenarios I had come up with for Jennifer, that she would now be happily married and the mother of two, was not one of them.  For the last few years, she's been a stay-at-home mom but now she wants to go back to school.  She said she had worked for a while in the medical field and is interested in becoming a respiratory therapist.  

I am really happy for Jennifer that her life has turned out so well.  Perhaps it was the experience down in LA that turned things around for her.....a blessing in disguise.  She seems very happy now, relaxed, content and healthy.

Do you know someone whose life course took an unexpected turn?   Also, what do you do when confronted with someone you don't recognize?  Do you fess up to it like Jennifer or do you try and fake it like me?