Dear Reese,
I write a post on LinkedIn today about my first day of work at a job I’ve stayed at for nearly eleven years. My boss drove me home that first day — I didn’t have my car for some reason. Maybe it was in the shop. I was going to take a rideshare but my boss offered. It was a kind thing to do.
I remember feeling painfully awkward the whole ride, but I usually felt painfully awkward about everything then. That same day, I had ordered a salad for lunch from a Chinese restaurant and had not realized I would have to pay for it — luckily, I had a ten-dollar bill on me.
I ordered a salad since I don’t like Chinese food. I also don’t like salad. It was a team order, and it was my first day at my first job out of college, and I was trying to figure out the team and professional norms. It was probably the right thing to do to get the salad, even though these days I am the person who orchestrates the team lunches when we are in-person, so I can ensure we eat from my favorite restaurants.
I hope you grow to be the kind of person who likes salad. Truly. It seems like they have an easier time of it. You do drink most of your strawberry zucchini apple spinach purée pouch, so that’s a start.
I also hope you grow to have kind bosses who will drive you home when you need a ride and kind coworkers who will include you in lunch orders. I hope you will be a kind boss yourself (or a leader in whatever you do) who offers those rides, who includes others in lunches.
Clara Pooley said, “In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”
Love,
Mama