About Face

She had always done
All the things
She was told
Would make
Her successful,
Wealthy and wise.
She earned her way
Into one of the
Top universities
In the country
In her chosen field,
And worked
Her tail off
To graduate
At the top
Of her class.
On graduation,
She got a
Lucrative job with
A major corporation
And quickly worked
Her way up
The corporate ladder
To nearly a
Six figure income.
She had put in
Countless hours
Of unpaid overtime,
And sacrificed
Practically all
Of her social life
In the head-long rush
To get ahead.
She was just over
Thirty years old,
And still single,
But had topped out
And was getting
Frustrated with her life
And her career,
For she was
As far from
Her dreams
Of how life
Would someday be
As she had ever been.
Doubt had begun
To creep in.
Along about this time,
Her father whom
She had always
Been trying to impress
With her work ethic
And financial well-being,
Became gravelly ill,
And she took
Her annual two-week vacation
To spend with him.
Two weeks after she returned,
Her father passed away.
When she asked for
Additional time off
To take care of
Her father's funeral,
She was told that
She had used up
Her paid leave,
So she would
Have to take the time off
Without pay.
That was corporate policy,
But then there was
Corporate philosophy
To deal with.
It was also made
Abundantly clear to her
That the corporation
Expected her to
Dedicate her life
To the company,
And if she took
The extra time off,
Then she probably
Wasn't the right one
For the job
In the first place.
The corporation felt
That it owned her,
And could dictate her life.
Once she realized
That mentality,
She knew it was time
To declare her freedom.
In a career about face,
She took her leave
And never returned.
She ended up teaching
English as
A foreign language,
Earning a fraction
Of what she
Made previously,
But she is now happier
And freer
Than she had
Ever been before.
Though painful,
She doesn't begrudge
The road that led her
Where she is today.
Some people travel
Their entire lives
Searching to find
A purpose
Worthy of their life
And an activity
Worth the effort.
Now she has it all.