Photo courtesy of Moe123 in Photobucket

A beautiful sunny morning! One thing that marred it was the arrival of my Hydro meter reader person, because I know that very shortly will be found in my mailbox a big invoice, demanding payment with that oh-so-elusive thing called ‘money’. Then again, when I consider the alternative, being without electricity (no pump, no music, no computer, no HOCKEY!!!), I’ll manage to find enough to pay the darned bill. I’ll grumble quietly and remember that I’ve spent money on less important things.

I was watching hockey on Wednesday night when my telephone rang. Who would dare??!!

It was a client, very adamant about me driving two hours or so to the office of his associate the next day. It was important, he stressed. My grandson is home from Alberta on his eight-day leave, so I arranged with him to watch out for the doggies, and headed out early Thursday morning.

The client was right. It was important. I sat and listened to what his associate had to say, studied the papers piled in front of me, and nearly fell off my chair when he divulged the real reason for my being there. He wasn’t just asking my advice; he was offering me a job, to become part of his organisation.

His project is fascinating and way bigger than anything in which I have ever been involved. On my part, it would require many meetings and discussions, studying, and spur-of-the-moment travelling. International travel. All-expense-paid trips to various countries for sessions where I would have to keep my eyes and ears open, and spend time going over and correcting documents.

When I rallied my senses enough to speak (it’s difficult to talk with your mouth hanging open, isn’t it?), I told him I didn’t think my qualifications were up to this task. His answer was that he already had the people with qualifications; what they needed was a bilingual person who could formally read and write, and in whom they could place absolute trust. My client had given me excellent references. In fact, because my client was planning to be part of this, he was very insistent that I be contacted.

Ummmmm...

I felt a twinge – one of those little sparks of excitement that happens when something catches your interest – similar as to how I would react if told that Brad Pitt was at my door. Well, maybe not THAT intense, but you know what I mean.

No doubt about it, if I was younger, and/or my circumstances were different, I wouldn’t even hesitate to accept. Instead I asked for time to think it over. The associate group is meeting on Sunday night, so I have until tomorrow to make my decision. Today will be spent reading over the whole project again, making lists of pros and cons (what about my existing clients, and there’s the doggies, am I up to hours of meetings, and are there really huge snakes in some of those countries?) and damn, I’m surprised I was able to sleep a wink last night!! Actually, I got in a straight eight hours of snooze time – a rare enough occurrence! I guess my brain just turned off, probably in self defence.

What do you think? What would you do? Any input would be appreciated. I’m still trying to convince myself that the biggest reason I’m considering accepting is NOT because my refusal could be caused by my feeling that I am too old....and does that sound as stupid as I think it does?

I’ll get back to those papers, and my list. Hope a few of you stop in to read and will offer an opinion! In the meantime I’m still shaking my head, thinking ‘Fancy that!’ and, yep, I’M SMILING!!!

Luv from the Bush in Quebec