An old friend of mine came to me with some interesting news: after just getting out of a four-year-long relationship, she was seeing someone new. She told me he was thirty, recently divorced, with two kids.

They had met at work.

She also told me some more interesting news: she’d quit her job.

Before I go on, let me back up a second. I should tell you that she’s one of those friends I’ve known for eons. Forever, and ever, and ever, and always.

My friend—whom shall remain nameless—truly wants to get married, have kids, and live in a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence.

Though the thought of marriage and children isn't one that often crosses my mind, I can appreciate the fact that my friend and I are different people who want different things.

I should also tell you that she loved her job.

After high school, my friend did not go to university. Instead, she got a job training horses on a farm—something she’s always loved and been great at.

Although she was passionate for her work, at a certain point she recognized that she needed a more sustainable career. She went to college and worked very hard to earn a degree in human resources.

I remember speaking with her while she was in school; she’d phone me to tell me how overwhelmed she was with the workload, and after she’d graduated, I remember hearing about how difficult it was to secure a career in her field in an unstable economy. After she’d landed a position at a big-name corporation in the city, my friend was happily working her dream job. I was happy for her since I knew how hard she had worked for it.

Enter this man.

The last time I’d checked, my friend was living a single girl’s life in the city, working away at her nine-to-five, and enjoying her freedom at night. I was surprised (but happy for her) when she text messaged me (yes, text messaged me) this past weekend to tell me that there was a new man in her life that she wanted me to meet.

We made plans to get together this upcoming week, and everything was fine until she ended our text conversation with, “by the way, I start my new job at the end of this month because the whole work situation was too difficult to hide.”

As she mentioned earlier, she met this new mystery man at work, and from her text message I gathered that interoffice romances aren’t allowed in her company. But to quit her job to be with him? I wasn’t sure if I could support this decision.

I was startled by her decision and didn’t know how to react.  In my mind, it made no sense that my friend would risk her financial security and give up her position she’d long worked to obtain, all in the name of a guy.

Perhaps he isn’t “some guy.” Perhaps he really is the man of her dreams.

It just didn’t make sense to me that she’d have to sacrifice her job to be with him.

Don’t get me wrong: I want to be happy for my friend—I really do. After all, she’s worked equally as hard to find love as she’s worked to find a stable position in her field, but it never occurred to me that she was the type of person to privilege her romantic passions over her career passions.

Did she sell out, or was she making the necessary sacrifices to have the best of both worlds?

Image from Morguefile

Amanda Cosco
		About the author:
		Amanda Cosco is a freelance writer. The city is her muse.  After completing a master’s degree in English Literature at Ryerson University in Toronto, Amanda packed up her life and moved to the city in pursuit of jazz, sex, and soup. Amanda completed her bachelor of arts at York University, where she had one foot in literary studies and one foot in journalism, earning her a double-major in English and professional writing. Amanda has presented her scholarly work at academic at conferences across Toronto, and her research on the metaphor of hunger in women’s fiction has received over $30,000 in grants and prizes. With her pen name, Lady Medusa, Amanda has left her digital footprints all over the internet. Currently, she’s blogging for several social media websites, and composing her first book of poetry, entitled "Autobiography of Skin. Follow her on Twitter @ladymspeaks
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