On Being Upstaged

When I was in graduate school the professor came to the classroom one day and announced that he wasn’t in a productive enough mental state to teach. He had just learned minutes earlier that he been scientifically upstaged. The research that he had been working on tirelessly for three years was for naught. Someone on the other side of the world had just published his exact findings.

My brother-in-law Jack is a really good guy. He works for a large financial company and is a senior staff member there. Since January he has been working/networking to get my daughter’s resume to the top of the pile for a summer internship. He has copied me on all the emails. He has updated me on the phone. He has been diligent. Meticulous. In our last conversation he felt confident that all his efforts would be fruitful. He expected something to come through in about a week or two.

But within that two week time frame Kara received a phone call from an acquaintance/collegue of my husband’s. The gentleman had perused Kara’s resume and sent it around to some people. One of those people still had not found the right summer intern and jumped at the opportunity.  

Poof. Kara was employed. She did not even have to fly home from Atlanta for the interview.

All my brother-in-law’s hard work was for naught. Someone who nobody knew would get a star next to his name.

In this life timing is everything.

Maybe I will bake Jack a ricotta pie to thank him for his due diligence. Kara might need a full-time job next year.