I used to hate the month of October. In my wild and crazy banking days I got fired three Octobers in a row… from three different banks! My first official getting fired experience was actually the nicest possible firing of any 19 year old girl… ever. My boss was Scottish and I worked at a national bank on the army base near my home. My main priority every day wasn’t to balance my till properly, it was to go on dates with cute GI’s. I woke each morning with such excitement to see what cutie I’d help on his lunch break. All this distraction came at a price. I NEVER balanced my till properly. I was always over or short. In the banking world they don’t like that so much. We used long ledgers of paper and giant old calculators to balance our tills every day and mine was never right. I got moved around to different departments. Finally on my final warning I was placed as the vault teller. I had been given so many chances to not mess up and my first week was great! Then a dreamy boy came in while I was counting pennies by hand I locked eyes with him and lost my count. I thought “c’mon Danielle, GET IT TOGETHER.” I couldn’t, by this time I lost my count and started again. The guy from the pizza joint trying to make his business deposit wasn’t happy. I started over. I counted his change back to him and he was on his way. I counted his change back to him. I counted THE CHANGE HE DID NOT REQUEST BACK TO HIM. This was not good. Later that week Mary pulled me into her office and she had a box of tissues. This wasn’t good. Her eyes welled up with tears and she said “Danielle, sweetie, in her ever so beautiful Scottish accent. I hate to say this to you but I don’t think banking is the right fit for you. I think you should go to school and be something else.” She went on to say how lovely she thought I was and that in all her 28 years of managing she’d never let anyone go whom she loved so dearly. This was a tough woman mind you. I had never see so much gentleness come from her in my short 1 year at that bank. I cried and said thank you and then I collected my things and everyone walked me out to the door. I got big hugs and I walked to my car rejected and feeling a little lost. I never liked school. I never liked math. I really loved people and enjoyed my bank job ogling boys and not counting properly, but Mary was right. Banking wasn’t in my blood. I went on to work at two more banks for the next 4 years of my life. Both ending in a loss. On my final day at the bank I was leaving my loan officer position my boss walked me out and asked what I’d do. I told her I was pretty resilient and that maybe Mary my old boss was right Banking wasn’t in my social butterfly nature. I had been given so many chances and my bosses looking back really treated me so lovely. I used to think the opposite, how mean some people were but looking back I was just this kid with a saucy attitude and other things on my mind, namely– boys. I took Mary’s advice and got into a creative career and thrived doing professional makeup for 10 years before launching my food career where I’m truly meant to be. It took me far too long to understand where I was meant to be but I sure learned a lot about my value along the way. A door closed is always and opportunity. Now I love the month of October. This month represents so much more to me than pumpkins and changing leaves, it’s the month that I needed to get fired in, three times, to finally start to understand what I was meant to do in the world. Love people through food or speaking or whatever else God has, but I’ll tell you I am grateful for the fall because every time I fell I got back up and started to find me. I hope you can find you after a door closes. I hope you are encouraged today knowing that you can lose a job or work through an illness or experience a great deal of pain and that you will and can be ok. Enjoy this October, as the earth quiets, take some time to get to know you. Your strengths and weakness make up a pretty sweet person. P.s. make these Caramel apples, you won’t be upset that you did.
