The Birth of A Salesman
I passed my retakes for the state insurance exam. I walked out in the lobby, and when the woman said I passed, I nearly screamed like a Miss America winner. I've never had such a rush of nausea, excitement, and fear in my life. I was barely able to stand as they placed the tiara on my head and put the sash around me.
The feelings of victory and elation quickly dissipated on the second day of on-the-job training when we drove over 500 miles in one day. I got home around 10:30 at night. The sash was crumbled under the front seat and the tiara was under a pile of applications.
In my reign, I have gotten to visit Loretta Lynn's Kitchen. It's a quaint roadside eatery in Waverly Tennessee. If you want to see what every Loretta Lynn fan with an excess of time and macaroni and a shortage of artistic talent think of this entertainer, you definitely need to see this place.
I can't tell you where Waverly is, because I can't remember. This last week was a blur of road signs and tiny gas stations and I loved it. I keep hearing that Johnny Cash song in my head, "I've Been Everywhere". I drive in a car all day, selling life and health plans to the elderly, and I love it. This is by far the most satisfying job I've ever had and I'm still trying to figure out why.
The aged have a unique smell to them which until now I always found offensive, their homes are closed up and usually insufferably claustrophobic on a ninety-degree day, but there's something compelling about the whole scenario. It's almost as if I feel I should be there, like I was meant to be there, talking to them, preparing them for the inevitable. It gives me a strange sense of peace to listen to their life's accomplishments, their passions, their regrets, and I empathize with them in their pain and their joy.
I see in them now what I've always feared: myself. I understand what makes the young afraid of the old and the old resentful of the young. We see in one another, what we fear to become and regret that which we have lost. I hear their stories and I see the eyes of my youth group at church. There is still hope and life in them, but they've been trapped in a body, which betrayed them by time. Our hearts never lose the desire to explore and discover new things, we just painfully learn to accept the physical limitation time and responsibility have placed upon us.
I passed my retakes for the state insurance exam. I walked out in the lobby, and when the woman said I passed, I nearly screamed like a Miss America winner. I've never had such a rush of nausea, excitement, and fear in my life. I was barely able to stand as they placed the tiara on my head and put the sash around me.
The feelings of victory and elation quickly dissipated on the second day of on-the-job training when we drove over 500 miles in one day. I got home around 10:30 at night. The sash was crumbled under the front seat and the tiara was under a pile of applications.
In my reign, I have gotten to visit Loretta Lynn's Kitchen. It's a quaint roadside eatery in Waverly Tennessee. If you want to see what every Loretta Lynn fan with an excess of time and macaroni and a shortage of artistic talent think of this entertainer, you definitely need to see this place.
I can't tell you where Waverly is, because I can't remember. This last week was a blur of road signs and tiny gas stations and I loved it. I keep hearing that Johnny Cash song in my head, "I've Been Everywhere". I drive in a car all day, selling life and health plans to the elderly, and I love it. This is by far the most satisfying job I've ever had and I'm still trying to figure out why.
The aged have a unique smell to them which until now I always found offensive, their homes are closed up and usually insufferably claustrophobic on a ninety-degree day, but there's something compelling about the whole scenario. It's almost as if I feel I should be there, like I was meant to be there, talking to them, preparing them for the inevitable. It gives me a strange sense of peace to listen to their life's accomplishments, their passions, their regrets, and I empathize with them in their pain and their joy.
I see in them now what I've always feared: myself. I understand what makes the young afraid of the old and the old resentful of the young. We see in one another, what we fear to become and regret that which we have lost. I hear their stories and I see the eyes of my youth group at church. There is still hope and life in them, but they've been trapped in a body, which betrayed them by time. Our hearts never lose the desire to explore and discover new things, we just painfully learn to accept the physical limitation time and responsibility have placed upon us.
posted by Shawn Passwaters at
10:54 AM
2 Comments:
I'm really glad you are learning from your new job, and enjoying it as well. That last paragraph makes so much sense, it's scary. Kind of reminds me of the blog I've been trying to write for the last week. Maybe I should finish that tonight.
:D
congratulations, whistling yoda.
I am glad that you are enjoying your new occupation. And I love that your blogs always make me stop and have a moment of deep thought. I don't get those very often so thanks for moments in my day when I actually stop and think...
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