Just a Job

The door slid shut and Samantha paused to decide if she should open the door back up and give this guy Matthew a piece of her mind for disrespecting her with his disregard of her position. She wanted to push her knuckles into his face during his mocking romantic gesture. The worst of it was that he did it in front of her boss. "Her Boss", what a turn of events. A year and a half, ago she was called boss by over a thousand people. Now she has a "boss" and he has a chauvinistic friend.

Two years ago Samantha's mother was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. All Samantha's life her mother struggled with mental health, but it had become uncontrollable two years ago. Samantha had gotten her mother the best care that was available in the UK. The quality care that Samantha bought for her sick mother comforter her regrets of being thousands of miles away and only seeing her a couple of times a year. Pushing the regrets down Samantha continued to excel at her job of Vice President of Sales for SAP USA. She loved helping her team find and integrate clients. She never missed a sales goal. She was on track to be the highest performing VP in the company and she was damn proud of it.

It was a Saturday afternoon a year and a half go when Samantha got the call. She was just waking up from a long night of celebrating with her team for closing their largest account of the year. The ringing phone sounded like a fire engine was driving around inside of her head. She reminded herself that her middle aged body cannot carry one like it once could. Fumbling for the phone she with half closed eyes. Next time she would pay the bartender extra to water her drinks down. A small price to pay to not have to feel her age. Finally the ringing stops. The voice on the other end says "Ms. Dickson, I am sorry to inform you, your mother past away last night." Instantly sober. Instantly awake. Samantha demands how. She is told that her mother had a manic episode and during the episode took her life. Samantha could feel a part of her die at that moment, strangled by regret, knowing that she never gave her mother what she wanted most. Her mother always hated the drive that came naturally to Sammie, as her mother would call her. Her mother wanted her daughter to find a traditional guy, buy a house next door, and provide her with a few grand kids. Build the family she never could. Its not that Samantha did not want to give herself and her mother those things. It never was a stop on the roads that she went down or that life provided her. As he hung up the phone, she pictured herself infinitely stuck on a busy roundabout with no road that seemed worth traveling.

Six months Samantha limped along in her job. Trying to find her passion. Her team knew it was gone. The other Vice Presidents knew it was gone. When Samantha got the tax notice for her mothers home. She knew that she wanted to go home. She is afraid what she will find at home. She is afraid what she wont find at home. All she knows is she has to go home and find herself there.