Stories

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Somewhere

Some where over the rainbow… way up high there's a land that I've heard of……….. Why Oh Why…… Cant that song be true? Over the past 8 months, that is the question I have asked over and over. But, like all things in life… resounding silence is the reply… so I wait, wait for the story to make sense… then again it might be starting to become clear.

I can remember, when the TX quarters came out Ken gave Jordan one, because she talked about moving to TX so much. She was going to be a Financial Adviser, and go to LakeWood church( where joel Osteen pastors)and live in TX. All that can be said concerning the situation, was that it was a Dream that she dared to dream really would come true.

It's a hard place to be , having an idea and not knowing how to proceed.
Jordan talked to four financial investor each from different companies. They all gave her advice. Schooling was a must. The best rout taken was to start as an assistant and to go to school part time. So Jordan applied for an assistant position, at Edward Jones. We knew someone who worked there, and she had banking experience. The chances looked good. Plus It didn't seem like a lot of people had applied for the job. She put in her application….
And got denied. Now, Jordan has been talking about being a Financial Adviser for the last 7years, so disappointment was inevitable. One day I went into her room and sat on her bed. She asked me where she should go from this point. Should she go to school full time? Keep working at the bank and try again later? I said nothing … I had no answer.

For a long period in my life I had no answers… to give anyone. Why hadn't our house sold? Why did almost all of my close friends " have to" leave? Why did my grandpa died? Why oh why must change happen? I wanted my troubles to melt like lemon-drops……..

By the time our family moved to TX.. I felt num. I couldn't eat or sleep.
Nothing was left, so I wasn't surprised when Jordan didn't express much interest in pursuing her career at the moment. We were all exhausted.
However, my dad told her she should speak to the Financial Rep our parents invested with at Edward Jones. Jordan agree, and from that point every door that had been slammed in her face previously was now opened. She moved along at such a smooth pace that it even surprised the people interviewing her.
Not a single person she spoke with could articulate how she had gotten that far in the hiring process.

Its enough to make me wonder… what if we had moved sooner? What if Jordan wasn't available at the time they were avidly hiring for the company? What if our grandpa hadnt died after we had moved….. would It have left a bad taste in our mouth concerning TX? And what if my friends hadn't left one by one? Would I have been able to handle going from lots of friends to none at all? Yes from time to time I play the what if game. … only to realize that perhaps there was a plan, a timing, to each sadness we experienced.

I held a piece of paper a few days ago. It was a " we regret to inform you"
letter. Jordan told me to turn it over… Awww the Edward Jones denial letter, on the back Jordan had written, I wont let this make me give up. Standing before me was my sister….. A girl who tried to get a job as an Assistant to a Financial Adviser.. Instead she is going to be the " adviser" with her own office.. With her assistant. She is a 10%. Edward Jones only hire 10% of the those who apply. The only one out of the fifty in her class that doesn't have a degree. She is a women in a male dominated field. Jordan is living in Tx, working as a financial adviser, and going to High Point church( the church joel osteens sister and brother-inlaw pastor) Umm It could be the resounding silence is the broken pieces starting to click into place.

If you can look beyond my silly little antidotes… beyond the song… you might find that because of the disappointments and joys life has handed out, your a better person today then you were yesterday. We all wish upon a star hoping it will come true. And, while the star can't save us there is someone who knows every thought we think. He weaves our life with wild perfection, so don't give up on your dreams. Each " dead end" God has brought you through, did have a purpose. It leads you somewhere over the rainbow… straight to his faithfulness