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Post by Bethanie Foster on May 10, 2019 13:59:07 GMT -5
Beth was very excited tonight as she waited for everyone to come down for dinner. She had some important news that she wanted to share with her family and as such, she'd been in a good mood the whole time since she'd arrived home from work. Given that she'd meal prepped dinner earlier this week, she only had to put everything together for cooking and as soon as that was done she'd called out to let everyone know to head downstairs. She wished that Kaitlyn was here, but her middle daughter was staying with her boyfriend in Lansing and so she'd call her later. Once everyone had come down to dinner and she'd served up the plates she decided to go ahead and share. "So," she started, unable to keep her enthusiasm out of her voice. "I have some exciting news. I was nominated for a WAVE award this year!" There were somewhat blank looks from the table, which made sense since she doubted any of them had heard of the award. "It's a service and hospitality award for workers in Grand Rapids. I'm one of 5 people that got nominated in the retail industry and the first every person from a bridal salon to get nominated!"
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Post by Michelle Foster on May 10, 2019 14:01:51 GMT -5
Michelle always had an off and on relationship with going back home for the summer. On one hand, it cost no money to stay at home and it wasn't like she lived off campus anyway. She had campus housing because it was fully covered under her scholarship and she wasn't going to go into debt just to have an apartment. The problem with going home though, was going home. Even though she was an adult, her mom still asked where she was going and when she'd be home. And still insisted that they all come together for family dinners, which was not something that she particularly enjoyed. She did like her mom's cooking though, so when she was called for dinner she came down to eat. It was clear to see that her mom clearly had something to say though and once she said it it didn't clear anything up. When she explained what her award was it did but even then, she'd never really thought that her mom was living up to her potential and so an obscure award didn't seem like anything worth getting excited about in her book. Her dad and brother didn't seem to feel the same way though as they both offered congratulations. Once they had, her mom turned to look at her. There was an awkward silence for a moment before she spoke up. "Yeah, good job, mom," she said, dryly.
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Post by Bethanie Foster on May 16, 2019 14:12:48 GMT -5
This was a huge deal for Beth and she was so happy to share it with her family. She had a lot of pride in what she did and although it could be a very tough job, she loved it. Not only did she love it, she did her job well and that was something that she took a lot of pride in too. She'd been recognized within the company at times for her work, but this was different. This was being recognized amongst the thousands of people in sales positions in the city, this was a large pool of possible nominees and she'd somehow made the cut. She smiled as she accepted the congratulations of her husband and son, but her daughter didn't seem to have anything forthcoming. After a look toward her she did say something, but it was very clear that she didn't actually mean it. Her daughter had always made it clear that she did not really have high regard for her career but this time she didn't want to just let it go. "Michelle, why can't you actually be happy for me? I understand that you have different goals in your life than I had, but can you at least try?"
Her daughter looked at her as if she was a bit strange for doing this. "Mom, come on, you don't have to take this so personally," she replied. "It's just, you know, you had a lot of potential at one point. Seems like it's kind of a waste where you're at."
Michelle had always been so ambitious, so sure of herself and what she wanted. It was something that she'd encouraged in the young girl, but the problem with that had been that now she thought that her ambition and her version of success was the only thing that mattered. It saddened her, to think that her bright young girl had become so narrow minded and judgemental. "I don't know where we went wrong in teaching you about what's important in life, but I'm very sad that we did," she said. Her tone was even, a touch hard and full of sadness. "You are going out into the real world, Michelle and kindness to others would not be amiss. Your version of success is not the final say in the matter."
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Post by Michelle Foster on May 17, 2019 15:44:01 GMT -5
Michelle wasn't really expecting her mom to call her out on anything, but when she did she didn't hold back. Her mom had graduated from college, had went to the Academy and was overall just an intelligent person. If she'd pursued a career in dance it would have made sense, but instead she had chosen to be a bridal consultant. That had always seemed like a waste of talent and intelligence on her mom's part. A lack of ambition in general seemed to be a chronic problem within her family. However, her mom had never really told her off for the way that she saw her, until now. And she couldn't help the surprised look that crossed her face as her mom said that she was sad that they'd gone wrong in teaching her what was important in life. Her mom was never the tough love type, but she didn't seem to be pulling punches as she continued to say that she wouldn't find kindness amiss in the real world. A glance at her dad caused her to catch his eye, but he pointedly looked away as if to tell her that she was on her own in this case. Which was just... well, it was not great. She didn't even bother looking at Dean, knowing that her brother was probably going to be smug as hell right about now. "Well, I wouldn't say that it's my version of success. It's a lot of people's versions of success."
"I'm not looking for an excuse here, Michelle," her mom continued, in the same even tone as before. "I'm telling you, the world is full of successes that might not be what you expect them to be. You think that you're smarter than the rest of us, but there is more to intelligence than an ACT score. And if there wasn't, I got a 34 when I took it."
This was news to her, something that she hadn't expected at all. Her 33 was high, she'd never considered that her mother was smarter than she was. It wasn't like her mom been the top of her class or anything - at least not that she'd known, but then her mom had never talked about her grades. Now she sputtered a little. "A 34? You had a 34 and you work as a bridal consultant? You could have gone to college for free. You could have done anything you wanted!"
"I did go to college for free," her mom answered shrugging. "I got a degree in dance and then decided I wanted to do something else with my life. But my reasoning doesn't matter. My test scores don't matter. And I had always hoped that you'd learn to respect me for the things that are important to me. I am a successful woman. And I attempted to share my success with you just now, but you didn't care to hear it."
All of this was world changing. Her mom, her vain and silly mom, was smarter than she thought. She'd known her mom was intelligent, but she'd always thought that of her parents her dad was the much smarter of the two. How could her mom, who decorated their house for every season, who enjoyed watching the Bachelor, who cried over commercials at times, be smarter than her? "Mom, you just dropped a bombshell about how smart you are and you're still going back to this award for being a bridal consultant? Are you for real?"
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Post by Bethanie Foster on May 17, 2019 15:49:21 GMT -5
Beth had never really felt the need to talk to her kids about what she'd done academically. They knew that she'd gone to the academy, knew that she studied at college. She really thought that was all there was to say about it. She'd done well on her standardized testing, to put things lightly. She didn't think that was a mark of her intelligence so much as a mark of knowing how to take tests well. Either way, it had never seemed important. Her successes were in her personal life. She had a beautiful family, she loved her children and her husband and she genuinely loved working as a bridal consultant. Her oldest had never seemed to understand that, but she'd thought that she at least respected her. The way she was acting made it clear that she didn't and so, for once she did bring up the fact that her brilliant daughter - by her own measurements - wasn't the smartest person in this house. Now, Beth would still consider her to be wickedly intelligent and probably even smarter than she was - in some ways. Somehow, Michelle had missed what her other children had not; that academics were not a measure of a person's worth. When Michelle insisted upon asking if she was for real she looked at the girl and made a snap decision. "Saturday, you're coming with me to work," she informed her, knowing that she'd be able to set up something with her boss.
"Wait, what? Why would I do that?" the brunette wrinkled her nose, looking at her like she was crazy.
"I'll clear it with my boss and you'll be my intern. Any dress you sell, you can keep the commission," she offered. It was a risky move, from the outside. Commission was a large part of how she made money, after so many years she had large commission rates. She could be losing out on a whole days worth of commission if Michelle was good at it. She knew her daughter though, she would not be prepared for the harsh reality it was to work with directly with brides and figure out what they really were. Beside her she could see Sam shift slightly, possibly wondering if she was making the right choice in this. She didn't look at her husband though, she just looked at Michelle.
Michelle seemed to be studying her too, trying to figure out if she was being had or not. "I'd keep the commission? Of any dress I sell? On one of your busiest days?" she repeated, probing for loopholes in this.
"All of it. It's an easy job, after all, so it's practically free money," she answered, her tone light though the undercurrent of sarcasm was obvious to those who knew her.
"And what's in it for you? I mean, you think I'm going to learn some lesson about how hard you work? I don't doubt that you work hard, mom," the young woman answered. That softened her a little, knowing that her daughter understood a little. "It just seems like a job that anyone could work hard and do." Okay, she didn't understand anything. It was time she was put in her place.
"Well then, I think you'll make a lot of money with one hard day's work," she said levelly, a single blink the only reaction that she gave. "And I'll get to spend more time with my daughter, letting her see what a day in my life is."
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Post by Michelle Foster on May 18, 2019 12:34:06 GMT -5
Michelle wasn't sure what her mom was getting at but it was obvious that the woman didn't think she had anything to risk by offering to let her have her money for the day on anything that she sold. Still, she was fairly certain that her mom - who was apparently smarter than most people - might actually be using some sort of reverse psychology to just get her to admit that her job actually required a lot of skill. That certainly wasn't the case though. Sure, she had no doubt her mom had perfected certain aspects of her job over the years, but it couldn't be anything more than gassing up people and giving them what they wanted. And wedding dresses were expensive, so the idea of giving up a Saturday to make a lot of money really didn't seem like it was going to be a problem. "Alright, next Saturday," she agreed, ready to show her mom that she wasn't going to really prove anything with this. Except maybe just to remind her that she was physically very strong from carrying around dresses all day, but she couldn't imagine anything else would come out of this.
Even so, the smile that her mom gave her was something that didn't sit quite right. "Good, I look forward to it," she said, and then glanced over at Dean. "Dean, stop texting at the table. Whoever it is can wait until we're done with dinner. Now, honey, I think I should get a new dress for the awards. Even if I don't win, I want to look nice." And so Michelle focused on eating, knowing that her opinion on this would not matter because she and her mom had differences in what good fashion was.
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