On a cold, rainy day, I do what all college students
do, I throw my pillow at my alarm and then glare at my roommate who made the
poor decision to wake up in a good mood. However, what I’m really getting at is
that after I’m done crying, I throw on some boots and my rain jacket. My rain
jacket came from my best friend’s aunt who owns her owns store and sells
hundreds of these same jackets for a pretty penny. My jacket was given to me as
a present after I graduated from a beautiful school that gave me 13 years of
private, Christian education. I wear my jacket to my jobs that I wake for
granted, to my friend’s homes in the fancy neighborhoods, to my home filled
with a family that supports me more than I deserve.
Today I learned that my jacket is not the only one of its
kind. Charmayne has the same jacket. Her rain jacket is blue with the script
monogram just like mine. But, unlike me, Charmayne doesn’t have unnecessarily
expensive clothes on underneath her jacket- she wears sweatpants and a t-shirt.
Unlike me, Charmayne doesn’t wear her jacket to her job- she wears it to the
main office where she has been searching for a job for months.
I walked into the office and was greeted by Charmayne’s
wonderful smile and a cheerful inquiry about how my life has been since she’d
seen me last. I haven’t been able to work with Charmayne at all, but
occasionally whenever we go in she is there trying to complete a job
application for one of the many jobs she has applied to. Today she was thrilled
about the fact that we were wearing the same jacket; she asked questions about
where I got it and continuously mentioned how cool it was that we were
matching. She told me about how she had saved up for it and found a little boutique
that would make it a little cheaper for her. I’ve never felt as completely
idiotic as I did sitting there in that moment, I realized just how fantastic my
life is compared to what it could be. Here are 2 people in basically the same
outfit, leading terribly different lives, one appreciating every opportunity
she has, and the other taking everything for granted without a second thought.
I’ve never struggled with finding a job and most of the time I take mine for
granted. My family has everything we could ever really ask for and more; I have
everything I need and I rarely take a second to stop and appreciate it.
I don’t know Charmayne, I don’t know what her life has
been like or what it will be like in the future. I don’t know where she lives
or if she has family to live with; she never mentioned herself or her life in
our conversations, the focus is always on the person she is talking to. Though I
know absolutely nothing about her, and I’ll probably never see her again,
Charmayne is what made Dress for Success worth it. That moment where I recognized
just how blessed I am made all the filing and sorting worth it.
