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Newspaper Columns >
Sometimes.But Not Always!
Does Mother Always Know Best?
by Carol Breidenbach
Farmland News
21 October 2003
Our daughter Angela had just graduated from high school, and she wanted to take a trip to Washington D.C. with her best friend, Tammy. I opposed such a trip, thinking she should instead get a fast food job quickly before they were all taken. She needed to save money for college.
My husband thought that, as a reward for her graduating with honors and never giving us any trouble in High School, she should get to take the trip. Besides, he reasoned, she'd received some good scholarships to help with college expenses. Outnumbered, I relented. When Angela and Tammy returned from their really wonderful trip, all the "good" fast-food jobs were gone ... just as I'd expected. At the suggestion of a friend of mine, Angela applied with a temporary agency.
On her first day, she was assigned to a job counting boxes of greeting cards at a local store. On her second day, she was assigned to a large local medical clinic entering medical records into its computer database. She got to dress up, made more than minimum wage and worked in a nice air-conditioned office. The job lasted the rest of the summer.
At college, she was given a job in the benefits office as part of her work-study program. Her knowledge of medical records, which she'd gained through her summer job, had opened the door to this position. Meanwhile her friends, who'd worked at fast food places all summer, ended up trimming bushes, mopping floors and washing dishes. It was good she hadn't listened to her mother.
During her junior year of college, when she went seeking an internship in accounting, she was hired by the Auditor of the State of Ohio. She landed such a coveted position because the Auditor's office needed someone to audit Medicare records and she had a knowledge of medical terms. Mom is looking bad.
When Angela was about to graduate from college and get married, my husband told her that if she wasn't going to live close to home, she should at least live someplace interesting for us to visit. That was his gentle way of giving her permission to follow her dreams and go where ever she wanted to go.
Angela ended up living in Washington D.C. because her husband took a position there. On their initial visit for his interview, she knew her way around on the Metro system ... a skill she'd acquired on that post high school graduation trip. Upon graduation, she landed an impressive position with a Big Six accounting firm. Her selection was based on the fact that she had knowledge of medical terms. She enjoyed a very successful career there auditing medical insurance companies. She never said it was a good thing she hadn't listened to Mom. But I wonder if she thought it.
Washington D.C. is indeed a wonderful place to visit and we have taken many great trips there. In spite of all the sites, the best part of those trips is getting to see Angela and our son-in-law, Robert.
What would have happened to Angela's career if she had listened to her mother and skipped that trip to Washington D.C. and gotten a fast food job? Knowing Angela, she probably would have been very good at it and ended up owning a franchise of her own. Then I could have written a column entitled: "Mother knows best". Ah, that would have been good!
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