By Trish Freshwater, Senior Communications Manager
Halloween is quickly becoming a favorite holiday in our house. We have a 5-year-old little boy and an almost 3-year-old little girl. They love to dress up. In fact, my son’s police costume from last year has yet to see the eternal graveyard of the closet. It’s a good thing I bought it a size too big!
While costumes are fun, they can foreshadow unforeseen opportunity. In college, I held several part-time jobs to earn enough money to pay my phone bill and car insurance, and to have some extra money for the weekends. One of those jobs was monitoring sports study halls – my job was to make sure the students assigned to my room were present and they did their homework. I also provided some tutoring help.
Each night I received my student roster from another proctor who monitored a study hall in a room just down the hall from mine. John was a few years older, and I thought he was sooo cute. But I was shy. And I got nervous each night just collecting my roster from him.
Then came Halloween. With some quick thinking, and encouragement from friends, I pulled together a Little Red Riding Hood costume with a modest red dress, a cape and a picnic basket. I baked some chocolate chip cookies and headed off for study hall – my heart pounding the whole time.
When I walked in the door, I immediately wanted to leave. All the boys in the room started snickering. John simply smiled and accepted the cookies. Looking back, I think he knew about my “secret” crush. But he was a gentleman, and ever gracious. While his interests were elsewhere, he never made me feel bad and we worked together quite well for the rest of the school year.
After college, I did some temp work and landed a four-month position as a receptionist for an insurance company. The agents at the office loved Halloween and everyone dressed up for the “big day.” So, I pulled out the old red dress and arrived at work with a basket full of cookies. I was a very popular receptionist that day, refusing to give out my cookie recipe.
Over the coming weeks, I experimented with other recipes for baked goods to bring to the office. Before long, I had several requests for cakes that people wanted to bring home for the holidays. It seemed my love for baking might actually be something lucrative!
But, life takes you down many paths. My love for baking is still just that, a love. Still, I have grand dreams for a bakery. I’ve even designed the logo. Who would have thought a simple Halloween costume would ignite a passion and possible career opportunity? What costume will you wear this year? Does it offer insight into your future career?
1 comments:
My halloween costumes have ranged from the historical (pirate) to the scientific (ghostbusters - back when the first movie came out). I think our costumes allow us to think outside ourselves - what would we like to be, even for a day. This is a great lesson for anyone in their career...remove the constraints of fear and ask youself 'what do you want to be?' And how can you get there? By the way, there may not be much call for pirates these days, but perhaps it was an indication that working for a company that not only respects diversity, but values inclusion, was in the cards. Just sayin'
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