March 28, 2024

Follow Up #2 My Next Chapter

Posted

Hi again folks!  As I mentioned in my first follow-up to the “MEMO”, I have finally retired!  I also said “stay tuned”.  It seems I may not have fully and finally retired after all.  Shortly after making my intentions to retire known, I was approached by a friend who asked if he could present a proposal to me that just seemed to happen at the right time.

This friend is a partner in a very busy entity and he and his partner had been discussing hiring someone to help with the phones while they were with clients.  They knew I had been in customer service for years and had already tendered my notice to retire and were wondering if I would be interested.  Let me say up front, my answer was “tell me more”. 

The offer would be working from home, a set amount of hours weekly, a suitable wage offer, a computer and a phone supplied by the partners and when I gave it some serious thought, it suddenly hit me – I would be on the very outskirts of possibly helping someone to get to the place they needed to be.  That led me to some very profound food for thought.  I mean, who wouldn’t consider something like this happening out of the blue?  Although I had retired because I decided it was time, I had to also give serious thought to giving up that weekly paycheck along with the benefits I was used to.  And, let me be honest here, I tried it once before and it just didn’t work. I had to wonder what I would do with my time if, in fact, I was bored out of my mind.  I couldn’t expect to sit under blue skies all year, surrounded by gardens and birdsong, could I?  And I wasn’t interested in taking up crafts or baking cakes again.  I did all that when the kids were younger.

I thought long and hard (maybe a minute or two) but this offer, this blessing, was coming from licensed therapists who were in high demand and did not want to turn anyone away if there was a call for help. And the notion hit me like a brick – I could be the one fortunate enough to be the conduit in getting someone heading in the right direction.  It was the furthest away anyone could be by just answering a phone call.  It was the bottom step, the first one someone takes when they need to climb a flight of stairs to get where they should and need to be.  It was simply answering a phone call but the thought of it made me feel like I could be doing something good and valuable and helpful, while also “paying it forward”.  Isn’t that what a part of life is as we live it?

Ultimately, as you may have surmised, I accepted the offer of “intake coordinator” and will be training and starting soon.  And I am so looking forward to it.

Remember when I said “good things happen when you least expect them”?

I know I have been rambling along and maybe wasting the time you took to read this and if so, I apologize.  If not – who knows?  I may come back with more.  In the meantime, thank you for letting me share the next chapter in my Book of Life with you.  Take care, be happy, love life.

Paula M. Boudreau

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