A Snapshot of Jack's Life Ch. 03

She'd been hired as a legal secretary at Johnson, Smith & Donald, LLP, eight years ago. She'd worked in the intellectual property division for four years but had moved up to litigation a few years ago. From the moment she transferred into litigation, she knew she'd found her place. She loved her position and her boss. Actually, she loved her "bosses", all three of them. She was assigned to three partners at the firm.

Most of her time was occupied working alongside Jeannette Donald, with whom she got along famously! They both had a passion for clothes, shoes, bags and other fun accessories. She loved the fact that she and Jeannette could discuss fashion, yet still get down to business, without the whole "you're just a dumb woman" routine you usually had to work through when your boss was a man.

She occasionally assisted Kevin McCowan, primarily when he was handling a heavy case load. He was 34, a year younger than she was, recently married, and had a baby girl. Kevin had been the person who interviewed and hired her so many years ago. He later told her she had impressed him with her portfolio. He said that as soon as she pulled her portfolio out of her briefcase, he knew she was the one. He didn't even care what was inside, he knew he had to hire her.

Last, but certainly not least, there was Jack Ford. Jack, Jack, Jack. What could she say about Jack? Well, he was tall (6' 3"), witty, a bit nerdy (which actually made him the more charming), had a big nose, and was totally gorgeous in her eyes!

Her friends laughed at her when she explained what she found most attractive in the opposite sex. "They have to be tall and have a big nose" she explained. Her friends thought she was joking and then realized she wasn't. They loved teasing her about it. Whenever a man who was tall and had a big nose came into the room, they would all look at her with big foolish grins on their faces. She didn't mind. She knew what she liked.

Jack fit the bill perfectly. He was most definitely tall and had a big nose. She hadn't always thought of him as totally gorgeous. Truth be told, when she first met him she thought he was positively ungodly. It took about a year (and him shaving off that hideous beard) for her to even notice that he was kind of cute. Her eyes now open, she quickly realized he had a wicked sense of humor, an intellect to die for, and a very nice ass. Yes, he was a walking cliché. Tall, she wouldn't even bother to look at men who were shorter, dark and handsome. One day it kind of just hit her and she developed an "office crush". "Hhhmm..." she thought to herself, "He's really cute." And so it began.

The typical office crush is a harmless thing. It's almost a given as we spend quite a bit of time at work. We ultimately spend more waking hours with our co-workers than with our own family. At work, bonds develop, friendships are forged, memories created, marriages often unraveled.

Jack's charm, wit and intellect were oh so appealing to her. She loved overhearing the witty banter between Jack and his colleagues. She loved seeing him come in every morning. Her ears perked up at the sound of his voice. She sincerely enjoyed her time in the office, working along side him. Not that he noticed her.

Oh, don't get me wrong. He wasn't rude or uncivil to her. He was aloof, sometimes socially awkward, but was nothing but kind and sincere in the manner in which he treated her. Well, the manner in which he treated everyone.

People would quite often think he was arrogant when they first met him. What they didn't know is Jack was actually a bit shy and insecure. He would often pass people in the hallways and not notice they'd said hello. He would continue on his way, without acknowledging the other person, without so much as a glance. People mistook this for arrogance and haughtiness on his part. They were wrong, for he was literally lost in his thoughts. Being anything but kind to others was abhorrent to him.

The harmless office crush continued for weeks, which quickly turned into almost a year. It made the office environment interesting for her. She wasn't bold enough to do anything except drool over him, when he wasn't looking of course. She loved standing next to him. She felt absolutely petite next to him. "Big deal," you might think to yourself, "most women are petite next to men."

What I forgot to mention is she wasn't like most women. She was a tall woman (5' 11"). Oh, and she was fat. We aren't talking "a bit heavy" or "pleasantly plump". She was obese (296 lbs). You can imagine she didn't often feel petite next to anyone, much less a man.

People would always tell her, "Oh you have such a pretty face...." as their voices trailed off mid-sentence. You knew they wanted to finish their sentence with, "...too bad you're fat". Obviously most people aren't rude enough to say it out loud, but you could tell that's exactly what they wanted to say.

She had always been a big girl growing up. She got bigger as the years went by and was positively obese by the time she was a senior in high school. She was lucky and found love and married the boy next door straight out of college. She loved her husband and soon they were blessed with two boys.

She continued on her merry path, happy with her life, except for her weight, of course. One day she and her husband decided to buy a new home. They needed a bigger home as their boys were getting older and their happy family needed more space.

The minute they walked into the home they ended up buying, they knew it was the right house. It was a charming one story ranch style home. The home had obviously been loved and cared for. The house looked as if it had been recently renovated. It had a lovely new kitchen, new floors and even had a huge new spa in the back yard. She wondered why someone would go to all the trouble of fixing up their home and then sell it. She found out soon enough.

The realtor told her the previous owner of the home had recently died in a car crash.

It often seems as if that's the way life works. One day, there you are, fixing up your lovely home, and the next day you're dead. The previous owner of the home left her house one sunny and bright afternoon and never came home. They found her car wrapped around a light pole, a mere 3 blocks from the lovely home she had been renovating.

The woman's sister, who inherited the home and was selling it, said she never found out why her sister had crashed. No explanation, no reason, no sense, it just was what it was. The seller said it made her happy to know that a young family was going to move into her sister's old home, as her sister had always wanted to have children. That simple statement touched her heart in a way that nothing had in a long time.

"How sad. How sad the lady had wanted children yet she was never blessed with any. How sad the woman made her home so lovely, yet she never got to enjoy it" she thought to herself.

God has a way of causing change in our lives without being heavy handed about it. He doesn't always have to use thunder and lightning to get our attention. For whatever reason, God chose this simple statement of hope and loss to set her on a path that would profoundly change her life.

She found the old newspaper article detailing the crash at the local library and read it. She copied it and would often pull it out and read it once more. She found the funeral home announcement describing the lady's life and journey, which had abruptly ended when the woman wrapped her car around the light pole.

Every morning on her way to work, and every evening returning home, she would drive by the exact spot, the exact light pole where the woman's journey on Earth had come to an end. She always felt compelled to look at the spot each and every day.

She pondered long and hard and often thought about the story that came with her new home. She began to examine her own life and goals. She began to wonder why she was allowing life to pass her by. She began to question why she'd never wanted better for herself. It finally dawned on her that by being so fat she was denying herself any sort of real happiness in life. It was then that she realized she had to change. No thunder or lighting was necessary.