You Are What You Do

One of my Linkster friends got called in for the oddest job interview I've ever heard of. After the usual application stuff -- including a 10-page background check and three separate interviews -- she was placed in a conference room and she would have forty-five minutes to describe on paper the "experience" she has that would best describe the type of person that she is and how this experience would fit for this position

Her answer:

I have tickled a friend of mine just to make her stop crying, I’ve burned myself while playing with candles. I have made bubble gum balls that have gotten my face and my hair all messy, I have talked to the mirror and I have even pretended at one time I was a witch. I’ve won a watermelon eating contest.

I’ve wanted to be an astronaut, the next WNBA superstar, a violinist, a doctor, acrobat and dolphin trainer. I have dreamt of being a mother and only a mother. I’ve played hide and seek behind the curtains and left my feet outside. I’ve pranked a few people over the phone before. I’ve taken a rain shower and got addicted to it. I have sung, kissed, danced and yelled in the rain.

I’ve stolen kisses, I’ve been confused over the feelings I’ve had before. I’ve taken the wrong shortcut and kept going on the wrong road to find my way back. I’ve scraped the bottom of the perfect rice pan that my mom makes and eaten the very last grain in it wanting more. I’ve also cut my own hair before. I’ve cried while listening to music, while riding the bus and the subway.

I’ve tried forgetting some people I have met, and realized that those are the hardest ones to forget and also realized how grateful I am for not being able to forget them. I’ve climbed to a rooftop before to see if I could catch the stars or count them until I’ve fallen asleep. I’ve climbed trees while attempting to steal some fruit and have also fallen on my derriere while doing the same.

I’ve made eternal promises, I’ve written on the wall of my school bathroom, I’ve cried on the floor of my bathroom. I’ve run away from home before stating that I would never come back and have come running home instantly. I’ve run to stop someone from crying, I’ve stood alone in the middle of thousands and missed only one of them. I’ve seen pink and orange sunsets, I’ve thrown myself into a swimming pool thinking I was a fish. I’ve looked at a few cities that I lived from the top of a tall rooftop and still have not felt at home. I’ve built a rocketship. I’ve built a fort. I’ve mailed a letter to God. I’ve made pinky promises and sang and danced until I physically was not able to anymore.

I’ve been scared of the dark, I’ve trembled out of fear, I have almost died out of love, but was born again to see the smile of someone else special. I’ve woken up in the middle of the night before afraid of getting out of the bed. I’ve raced someone in the middle of a hot asphalt with no shoes on and won. I’ve screamed outloud out of pure happiness. I’ve stolen sunflowers out of a garden. I’ve laid on the grass and dew to watch the sunrise. I’ve cried when I’ve seen friends leaving but have also cried when new ones have come into my life. I’ve eaten sugarcane right out a plantation. I’ve been dropped in the ocean to swim my way back and been stung by a jellyfish while attempting to "bring it home" as my new pet.

I’ve jumped out of a building with only a cord holding my lifeline. I’ve ridden rollercoasters where I have felt my heart jump right out of my throat and be pushed back when the wind knocked it out of me in the first place.

I have banged pots and pans and made music. I’ve gone to a movie theather in my pajamas.

I’ve played sports with broken bones while whining and crying out of pain and realized that I wanted to be right where I was doing what I was doing regardless of the pain.

I’ve sat in conversations where people from different places in the world were seated with me and I was the only person able to communicate for all and the only one able to understand them all.

I’ve been able to conceive and bear a child that is wiser, better and more in tune with life than I could have ever imagined.

I have stood up for what is right even when everybody else was telling me I was wrong.

I’ve lost myself and found myself the same day.

I’ve found out I have an eternal purpose.

I have cried over music, over stories and over strangers.

I’ve mourned the death of a loved one and welcomed the life of another.

I’ve been in the middle of a mountain completely alone and realized I was and never will be alone.


There have been so many things done and undone, so many emotional and mental photographs that I have taken, kept in one big chest... my heart. The chest in this case holds some of the experiences that you have asked me to share to further explain who I am.

But now I am sitting here in this room and have been asked by this interview form to write down in forty five minutes the "experience" I have that would best describe the type of person that I am and how this experience would fit for this position, well... it is echoing in my mind right now... experiences, experiences . . . will "farmer and cropper of smiles" be good experience? Will "mother of an amazing four-year-old" suffice as enough experience? I could sit here and write out in depth what is already written in my resume... but that does not constitute the "experiences" in my life that have made me who I am today. I guess one will never have enough experience... life renews for us everyday and changes constantly.

BTW, she got the call-back interview. How stoopid would they have to be to not hire her?

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