From My life, To Hers

I’ve never thought my job had a purpose… my daughter said it does, my wife said it does… I’m an HR manager, I support employees at a major gas company through their HR issues. I want to do something worthwhile… something- “John! You finished with that chart I told you to make 2 days ago?” I roll my eyes mentally… it was my annoying, over the top boss… Laura. “Yes. I'm about to send it to you.” I said. “Good. make it snappy.” I send the chart to Laura, then clock out for the day, I go home to my daughter Issabella, and my wife, Diana. I come through the front door, Bella, my dog, runs up, jumping on me, Isabella runs to give me a hug. “Hey dad! How was your day?” I sigh. “Same ole… it's work.” Isabella giggles and Diana calls from the kitchen. “Dinners ready” We all go into the dining room, we talk about our days. Suddenly I have a burst of pain crawl up my spine, I groan and bend over, Issabella, looks worriedly at her mom, and then at me. I sigh and eat my food. “God, I'm glad this surgery is tomorrow… and I'm not too sad about the 3 week break from work.” Isabella giggles. “You know you could always be a stay at home dad,” she says, hopefully. I sigh “Yeah, i've looked at that, the stay at home dad job doesn’t pay much,” I say, chuckling. 

The next day, our family gets up at 6 am, we drive to the hospital and Diana and Isabella sit down in the comfy looking hospital chairs, I get wheeled into the before-surgery room, and I sit there, they give me medicine, about an hour later, Isabella and Diana come in, Diana looks scared. “Hey it’ll be okay… it's a simple surgery.” I lied… it was not a simple surgery, it had a 10 percent fail rate. I dropped my voice to a whisper. “2 broke girls came on TV… I feel like a creeper watching it, am I right?” Diana laughed. No… I think it's okay, especially if it’s on TV. Isabella, who was always looking for new shows, perked up. “What’s 2 Broke girls?” I laughed. “A show that you can definitely not watch.” She looked disappointed. “Awww…” The doctor came in “Alrighty… let's wheel you in,” he said. “You ready?” We nodded and they said their goodbyes.

A few hours later, I woke up to Diana and Issabella at my bedside, Diana was holding my hand, Isabella looked worried. “How was the surgery? Could you feel anything?” Issy said, bubbling with questions. “I couldn’t feel anything… and I have this cool scar right here.” I said, trying to be cheerful. “Woah… you look like an Xman.” she said excitedly. I laughed, even when people had pierced through my skin she still managed to bring a smile to my face. The next day, we left the hospital, Isabella had a worried look on her face the whole drive home and when we got into the house, she was grabbing my cup for me, both me and Diana tried to soothe her… she did not stop until her mom forcefully but gently told her I could pick up my own cup. Then Laura called me, I sighed. I thought the weeks off were going to be reliving, now Laura was going to be on my back for taking medical leave. I can’t wait for retirement. I picked up the phone reluctantly. “Hey Laura, what do you need?” She sounded upset. “We need to meet in my office, sooner rather than later.

About 2 days later, I went into Laura’s office. “So… what’s all this about?” I said, not wanting to be here. “We're putting you on a new job.” I was shocked. “What? What’s my job title, job description? Where is it?” She sighs. “It's here. The rest, we don’t know. I was angry, they were putting me on a job that they don’t even know what it is!? “So… you're putting me in a job that  you don’t know!? How does that make sense?” I said. “Well. the only thing we know is it's at a lower level than you are now.” This could easily be classified as discrimination. “What happens if I don’t take this job?” I say, challenging her. “Then you could very easily be fired.” She says, cockily. “W-what?! I have worked here 15- no. 16 years! And you're going to treat me like this… You're moving me down because I went on medical leave! What the hell is this laura… you know what… screw this. I’m done. I quit. You people can find someone else to do it, I will be sending a quitting email to everyone saying I am surprised by the level of disrespect and discrimination. I’m done.” I slam my I.D card on the desk. “Mr. Ingram-” she said, trying to convince me otherwise. “No. I'm not putting up with you people any more. I'm leaving. Goodbye. 

A Few Years Later

I told my family about what they did… how I quit… what i said. They were totally supportive… I started college a few months ago. I'm going back to school to become a nurse practitioner. I

had been interested in health care for a long time, but I was making too much money where I already work. I couldn’t sacrifice that. After lots of convincing from my daughter that we were gonna be okay and that she was okay with the move, I enrolled in college. We're now living in New York, and I'm going to NYU. My daughter is 15 and is going into healthcare just like me. I came home from school to see my daughter working on her science homework and Diana cooking dinner. Issy, just like she always does, runs up to give me a hug. I wrap my arms around her. There were tears in her eyes. “Dad… m-my girlfriend broke up with me…” I was shocked, they had been together for 2 years… we had been totally okay with her being gay, and her first girlfriend had just broken up with her… “Oh my god… i'm so sorry issy…,” I hug her tightly. It's going to get better… I promise. 

20 Years later

I was going to the doctor for neck surgery… I was 65… my body was falling apart. A beautiful woman greeted me. “Hello, I'm Dr. Ingram, I'll be your surgeon- oh my god dad!” She laughed… I was shocked… she had told me she was just going to become a nurse… “Issy… I thought you were in nursing sch- someone… My hero had inspired me to go further… when I thought I couldn’t do it, I thought of you… who worked in a job he didn’t like to feed his family. Who was brave enough to change careers… Dad… you are my hero.