There is Opportunity from Closed Doors

It all started with a rumor when I first heard the door slowly closing. There was talk about the school board making cuts to save the school district money. It seemed like something I did not have to worry about. I worked at the school cafeteria. Yes, I was a lunch lady. I wore a plastic apron, hairnet, and sticky shoes. Kids have to eat don’t they? I had a job with security. Besides, I knew that the cafeteria had its own budget. Why would the board make cuts to my department? But it happened at a special board meeting. A vote of five to two shut the door on to what I had considered a great job. What had started out to be just a rumor, as they all do, was now true.

My job in the cafeteria gave me a sense of pride. I worked with our most precious commodity, our children. I knew every child’s name, first and last. In this job, I felt like a valuable part of our community. How could this happen? It felt like I was asked for a divorce. I viewed this door being closed in my life as a big loss. I was not looking for a new door. I did not want a different job. I liked my old one. I felt self pity; I was depressed.

I have had a number of jobs in my life. The pattern of these jobs slowly being eliminated is now a reality of our world. Growing up, I always viewed closed doors as ones that protected me. Closed doors were no longer protecting me. These doors left me outside. They made me feel vulnerable. Everyone places doors around themselves. These you can control: the doors to your heart, the doors to your mind. The doors that I could not control seemed to keep closing.

After losing my job at the school, a new opportunity opened up for me. I found a new job with a new sense of purpose. But just as before, the door shut once again. But this time instead of letting myself get depressed, I went looking for my next opportunity: a new door to enter. Just as I have come to learn, one was waiting for me. I am now enrolled in a retraining program for displaced workers. I am taking college classes for the first time in 29 years. Who knows where this retraining will take me. I know that I can hardly wait to find out.

I have learned a great deal from these doors closing in my life. I have learned to not to linger too long, pick myself up, and move forward. As the saying goes, when one door closes another door indeed opens.