The sky was grey and heavy. It wouldn't be long before more snow would
come, he could feel it. He had been driving for three hours straight, it was
time to stop and stretch his legs. He needed some fresh air to think. Today he
had seen glimpses of new opportunities and to his own surprise he felt
energised and ready to explore these further.
He drove a little faster, eager to leave the highway to find a quiet spot and get out of the car. A few big snowflakes hit the windscreen. It was winter after all, but he liked it. It was the season where you could disappear and be left alone. That was exactly what he'd needed a couple of months ago to get his act back together after a lot of things in his life turned nasty for him.
One day almost eighteen months ago, his wife decided she had enough of him and left. She had packed her bag, left her keys on the dining table and disappeared out of his life. And he thought he was happily married; he hadn’t seen this one coming.
Well, if only she’d just disappeared. But she came back with a lawyer and demanded everything he possessed and more. He got his own lawyer, fought back, thought of giving up this pointless battle more often than not, and when it was all over and both parties were more or less bankrupt he just needed to get out of there and leave.
In a very uncharacteristic move he resigned from his job, took his belongings -including his cat without tail - and rented a cottage in a remote location in North-Eastern Denmark.
The cottage was great. From the veranda at the back the view over the lake was just spectacular. He spent hours just sitting on the veranda, staring into the distance, stroking the cat on his lap - who seemed pleasantly surprised by all the attention – and doing nothing much.
He needed the headspace to think about what next. What did he want with his life? It had taken a quite unexpected turn and he didn’t feel ready for anything.
But then, two weeks ago there was
this flyer in his letterbox, about a careers expo. It caught his attention,
which was unusual, as nothing had interested him much lately. Maybe his sub-conscious mind had been working
hard during these months in isolation?
Out of the blue, he decided to go. He didn’t know what he was going to find there, but that wasn’t important. So early this morning, he got into his car, drove the two hours to Kopenhagen and almost drowned in the waterfall of impressions at the Convention Centre.
He collected tons of brochures, dvd’s and goodies about courses he didn’t know they existed and jobs he’d never even heard of. Educational Technology? Earthquake Damage Assessor? Digital Media Developer? Really?
