Choices. We make them every day. One choice may lead to a seismic shift in our personal or professional life.  Another choice has a small impact, barely noticeable.

There was a time many years ago when God gave me a very important decision to make, but I scarcely knew how impactful the decision would be at the moment I made it.

I was thirty years old and out of a job as my boss, Senator Bob Smith, had lost his election. I was toying with starting the adoption process, but I also wanted to continue my work on Capitol Hill.  I had a few job offers but nothing felt right until I learned that Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana was hiring for a Legislative Director (LD) position.  I applied, receive a call from the Chief of Staff (CoS), and then went in for what would be my only interview.

I knew that this particular interview was going to be the biggest, most “important” interview of my life, because Mike Pence was a rising super star and already in House Leadership. I dressed to the nines, prayed a whole bunch, and even practiced my interviewing skills in front of a mirror.

The moment of truth came when I sat down with both Mr. Pence as well as his CoS.

I know you are all dying to know about what I thought of Mike Pence, so here it is: He seemed guarded, serious, authoritative, kind, and pleasant, all at the same time. Even though he seemed genuine and cordial, for some reason I was incredibly nervous during the interview.  He truly intimidated me!!  Maybe it was his authoritative presence, or his stern demeanor.  During the interview, the CoS asked the questions while Mr. Pence sat listening, staring at me with his eyes that seemed to bore into my soul.  I was so nervous that half way through the interview process I blurted out: “I am so nervous right now!  I just have to say that.  I don’t know why.  Ok, now that that’s out of the way I feel much better!”

Yep. That happened.

Now, if you have read From the Valley to the Hill, you know that I have a tendency for the awkward during important interviews so this is nothing new. So, I was surprised when I got a call a couple of days later from his CoS.

“Hey Heather, this is ____. I wanted to give you an update on the interview process.  So, it’s down to you and another candidate, and Mr. Pence and I will be deciding over the weekend and we will let you know of our decision on Monday.”

Right after the call I immediately got down on my knees and prayed, asking God to give me this job because I really, really wanted it.

All of the sudden I felt the Lord speak directly to my spirit in a very clear, unmistakable way. He asked:

“Do you want to work for Mike Pence?”

And in that moment, I felt in my spirit that God was saying to me: “Just say the word and the job is yours.”

For some reason I knew that an answer was required of me, in that moment. And that my decision was an important one and would affect the rest of my life.  I was at a crossroads, and destiny was hanging in the balance.

I hesitated for a minute and then finally said. “Yes, Lord, I do.  But I want your will more than I want my own to be done.  So…(long pause)…you decide.”

Monday morning I got the call: they decided to go with the other guy! I was deflated.  And angry.

“God, what the heck? You asked me and I said I wanted you to decide.  I thought you would say “awesome Heather, in addition to this job I will give you riches and honor as well” or something like that.  I never expected you would say no!!  I thought you would be so thrilled that I told you I wanted your will instead of my own that you would bless me with this job! I’m so confused.”

There was silence on the other end of the line. To make a long story short, I ended up just not getting any job at all, started to work very diligently and rapidly on our adoption process, and adopted our beautiful daughter Claire about a year later.

After we brought Claire home, I had an epiphany about working for Mr. Pence. Had I chosen to say “yes Lord, I want to work for Mr. Pence” with no qualifier, I believe I very much would’ve gotten the job, and we never would’ve adopted Claire.  Working on Capitol Hill as an LD is an all-consuming job, and I am quite positive I would have been unable to complete the adoption process.

Did you catch that? We would never have adopted our meant-to-be-super-special daughter, Claire.

In that moment, I was very thankful that I didn’t just go with the answer that defined what I truly wanted, but rather I let God decide what I truly needed.

So this brings me back to big choices that God gives to people. Here are just a few from Scripture:

• There was a time when God asked King Solomon to ask Him for anything, and He would answer the prayer, no matter what. King Solomon asked the Lord for wisdom. God was so impressed with his choice that He gave him wisdom greater than any king before him, and riches and honor as well. Solomon made a wise choice, and God blessed him more than any other king, ever. (By the way, I was referring to this story a bit sarcastically when I spoke to God after I found out that I did not get the job.)
• God offered a choice to the Israelites when he said “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.” The Israelites, sadly, did not consistently choose God and His ways, and therefore they came under judgment several times and their kingdom was torn in half.
• Jesus gave a choice to three fishermen to drop their nets and come follow him, and Jesus would make them fishers of men instead. The men obeyed and followed, got a front row seat to Jesus’ ministry, and changed the world. He also asked a rich young ruler to follow him, but the young man went away sad, and we’ve never heard from him again.
• Finally, did you know that Jesus actually had a choice about going to the cross to die for the sins of mankind? He sure did. And in fact, Jesus asked God to choose another path for him that did not involve the cross, not once, but three times. Scripture does not record what God actually said to his Son in the Garden of Gethsemane, but it’s clear that God did not offer Jesus an alternative. Jesus, in a moment of pure humility and self-denial, finally states “Lord, would you pass this cup from me? Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

Jesus basically said: “God, I would prefer another way, but you decide.”

And actually, there’s one ultimate choice that all of mankind must make: To choose for God, or choose against him. When Jesus was on the cross, in his dying moments, he was flanked by two thieves who  each had a choice. One chose the path of faith and one did not.  Jesus turned to the one who believed and said:

“This day you will be with me in paradise.”

So this brings me back to my story about Mike Pence. Every choice you make can have a small or big impact, and it’s hard to know, in the moment, how your choice will affect the rest of your life.

That day when God asked me if I wanted to work for Congressman Pence, I am glad that I hesitated before giving Him my answer. I am glad that I offered Him a qualifier.  I offered Him a qualifier because deep in my heart, I believe that God is good, and He knows what’s best for me.

I am so glad that God chose Claire for our family. And I would always, always choose my Claire-Bear.

Because jobs come and go, but family is forever.

I analyze the spate of recent creepy clown sightings, try to figure out what’s going on, and make some predictions.

It started about a month and a half ago when residents of Greenville, SC first saw clowns attempting to lure children into the woods.

Recently, a car full of allegedly armed clowns was spotted driving through a university in Pennsylvania.

At least ten states have spotted these terrifying clowns. If you google “creepy clowns” you will find a multitude of clown sightings across the country, including a brand new sighting in Syracuse, New York, my home town.

The creepy clowns have been seen near schools, on street corners, on top of hearses, and in some cases they were reportedly holding weapons.

Tyler Carpenter of Phillipsburg, New Jersey, claims to have been chased by a clown with a catana-like sword in broad daylight. According to Tyler, the clown yelled “I’m gonna get ya!” while Tyler ran as fast as he could towards home.  Also, in Phillips Park, New Jersey, three clowns came out of the woods and chased a child.  Another boy in Columbus, Ohio reported a clown chasing him with a knife.

In a nutshell, what seems to be happening is this: a creepy clown is spotted, he does something like offer money or candy in order to lure children (or chases a child with a knife), and then disappears. OR, an adult spots a creepy clown (or a group of clowns) doing something strange or unusual, the adult calls the police, and then the clown disappears before the cops can find the clown.

So far, it’s been mostly just creepy, non-life-threatening clown encounters of the third kind. However, there was a fatal stabbing of a 16 year old boy in Reading, PA after someone wearing a clown mask may have provoked a confrontation.  But the authorities are still sorting through what happened, and it’s unclear who had the clown mask on and when.

But the important thing is that a clown mask was involved.

Additionally, there are recent news reports that some of these sightings may, in fact, just be hoaxes or the accounts of children with over-active imaginations.

So what the heck is going on here?

Here are my theories:

1. This is all a big practical joke that is spreading across the country. Bored teenagers or older men with issues (sorry guys) are getting a rise out of all the attention, and they are attempting to scare people for kicks. OR, kids are just telling lies about clown sightings to get attention.
2. This is some kind of documentary or social experiment involving clowns, fear, and societal response. I just learned that they are remaking the movie “It” to be released in 2017. Those of us who remember the 1990 version are still afraid of demonic clowns, especially in street gutters.  Maybe this is a huge publicity stunt.
3. Less likely but still worth noting is my version of a Clown Conspiracy Theory: creepy clowns could actually start doing worse things to children (kidnappings or school shootings, for example). There could be something more serious going on: possibly some Satanic cult or some faction of bad people coming together to do something planned and insidious.

Here are some predictions:

1. Very soon we will start hearing reports of these creepy clowns getting the sh*%$#@ beat out of them, shot at, or run down with cars. Creepy clownsters better beware: people are afraid of you and will feel entitled to shoot you or beat you to a pulp to protect the ones they love.
2. I believe, due to all the media attention, this epidemic will continue to spread for awhile, especially since Halloween is fast approaching, and then eventually die out.
3. It could (possibly, but unlikely) lead to something more serious down the road;   something coordinated, like the kidnapping of children, or various shooting sprees in designated areas.
4. Finally- normal, nice guys that dress up like clowns (think the Circus, or St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital) will start to get harassed.

If I had to boil it all down to my best guess, it’s either a. a few kids or older men with issues that think it’s cool to scare people, or b. it has something to do with the new “It” movie coming out. I’ll even add in a c.  it’s societal panic that is overblown and built on false allegations and misunderstandings.

Whatever happens, I believe the creepy clown epidemic will abruptly resolve in the near future, once the clowns start getting shot at.

So send in those (creepy) clowns and line them up in a row, because the rest of normal society is very terrified and unhappy right now. Don’t be surprised if people start taking matters into their own hands.

________________________________________________________________

(http://www.aol.com/article/news/2016/09/28/creepy-clowns-are-popping-up-across-the-country/21482518/) I used parts of this story  for this post, as well as the rest of the Internet.)

How the horror movies of the 80’s shaped a young, impressionable girl (me)

I was scrolling through Direct TV the other day when I saw that A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Dream Warriors, was playing on one of the many movie channels.

“We’re the Dream Warriors…don’t wanna dream no more!” I sang to my husband (and yes, there is actually a song called “Dream Warriors.” Google it). He gets me because, after 16 years of marriage, we’ve basically become the same person.

“Maybe tonight, maybe tonight you’ll be gone.” He muttered while checking email on his phone.

Ah, love.

And horror movies.

After the age of 11 or 12, my mom became a Christian and from then on I was raised in a strict, Christian household.  But since my parents were divorced, and my dad wasn’t a strict Christian, let’s just say that I was able to watch movies at my dad’s house. And watch movies I did.  My sister and I watched all of the horror movies that were popular during the 80’s:  A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, the Shining, and The Exorcist, to name a few.  I’m not super proud of the fact that I watched so many of these movies, and I certainly screen my own kids from watching movies like these.

But before we get started on how these movies shaped me forever, do you recognize this house?   Of course you do.  And I bet you know the famous line of that famous movie, too.

So here are a few ways that growing up in the 80’s watching horror movies affected me, plus my own ghost story to boot.

One, Two, Freddy’s coming for you:

I actually thought that there were a ton of deranged men out there that wanted to hurt me and were lurking outside of my house on dark nights. As a teenager, I would make sure all the curtains were drawn up tight, and if there was a small slit between the curtains, I couldn’t stand it.  When I slept at night, I had to make sure all my limbs were safely inside the perimeter of my bed.  Watching horror movies also opened up a door to my interest in the paranormal.  I dabbled with Ouija boards and read occult themed books for teens written by Christopher Pike.  To this day I am more alert and wary.

Three, Four, better lock the door.

To this day, I am always making sure the doors are locked. And windows.  Sometimes late at night if I’m up I will look out the window just to make sure there is no creepy man lurking in the shadows.  I tell my kids to be super careful about strangers, lurking cars, or people (in hockey masks) watching them curiously.  (hmm…I wonder what Jason’s mom would think of all this.)

Five, Six, grab a crucifix.

I would say this is the number one way I’ve been shaped. That despite the crap I put into my head and all the scary books I’ve read, God is more powerful than anything that goes bump in the night and that He can bring me peace and calm when I get scared.  So if I am scared, I just pray and ask for his peace and his protection.  There is a reason that the crucifix was effective against all of those ghosts, demons, and zombies.

[Insert my “ghost story”]

One time I was staying with my aunt whose house is really and truly haunted.  One evening, late at night, her baby boy started crying in the room next to mine.  There was a back-staircase between our rooms and I heard someone coming up the stairs [note to self, all homes with a back staircase are haunted].  I thought that those footsteps belonged to my aunt, coming to take care of her crying baby.  However, after a few minutes, the baby was still crying.  I waited for a few more minutes and felt relief when, once again, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs, this time much louder.

“Good,” I thought to myself.  “The baby will stop crying.”

I waited and waited, but the baby kept crying.  That’s when a very creepy feeling of fear started to settle over me: that wasn’t my aunt coming up them stairs, that was the ghost!!

I had a choice to make: stay in bed where it was safe but not be able to get to sleep because of the crying baby.  Or get up, walk right on the landing of the (creepy, haunted) back stair-case, and try to settle down my frazzled baby cousin.

I chose to be brave!

I ventured into the babies room, feeling pretty creeped out, and saw the baby standing up in his crib, crying loudly in distress.  I started to reassure the baby and then prayed over him  out loud.  I prayed that God would give this little one peace, remove the ghost, take away fear, and that God’s presence would fill his room.  And I closed with “and I pray that the baby will get right back to sleep!!”

Guess what happened?  As soon as I was done praying, the baby immediately stopped crying, laid down in his crib, put his little hands under his chin, closed his eyes, and promptly went to sleep.

Just like that!

Seven, Eight, never stay up late.

I go to bed at the same time every night, except when Erik (husband) travels. For some reason, I stay up later than normal. I think it’s because subconsciously I feel more in control. When I am sleeping, I am much more vulnerable.  And on that point, when Erik travels I make plans in my head of what I will do if something bad happens.  I also keep my cell phone right by my bed just in case.

Nine, Ten, never sleep again.

Thankfully, I sleep well even if I am alone. But I wonder how many people struggle with nightmares and being scared at night, all because of some of those horror movies of the 80’s?

In closing, watching the horror movies of the 80’s made me a more aware person in general and I’m not so naïve about people and life. You won’t catch me entering a dark room backwards, unprotected, reaching for the light switch that doesn’t work!  Furthermore, I will bravely protect myself and my family, no matter what!  I also know that God is more powerful than Satan, his demons, and all ghosts and goblins.

However, I have more fear in general and I trust people less. If I squint at you and look doubtful, don’t take it personally.  I could be having a subconscious flashback from the Evil Dead.  It bothers me that I have to check and re-check (at times) the doors in my house.  I really don’t love that I get scared sometimes when my husband travels. And when my kids are outside playing and for some reason I can’t locate them, it would be nice to not think that they’ve been kidnapped by the Jeepers Creepers guy.

However, since I can’t “turn back time” (we are talking about the 80’s here) I guess I will just have to live with these over-protective tendencies.

And keep that crucifix close at hand, just in case!

(But keep it right-side-up, of course.) 🙂

I held my breath as the Chief of Staff said the following: “Do you remember how I told you I would call you if we had any other openings?  Well, we have another opening for Legislative Assistant.  We would like to offer you a job if you are interested.”

“Yes, I accept!” I exclaimed with excitement.  I jotted down some additional information from him, and then hung up the phone.

I sat there in stunned silence for a few minutes, reveling in what had just happened.  I couldn’t believe it.  I was officially going to work on Capitol Hill!   Gratitude and amazement were the emotions I felt in that moment.

A few weeks later, with some sadness, I said goodbye to my CWA family and especially my boss who taught me everything I knew, and headed up the Hill for my first day on the job.

The first day of my new job I showed up early, wearing my best suit.  I said hello to the receptionist and then headed to my office cubicle.  I noticed how tiny the “ledge shop” (short for Legislative Shop, what some people call it) really was.  Offices on the “House side” are quite small.

I sat behind my desk with an open computer just blinking at me.  It occurred to me that I had no idea what to do.  When my direct boss arrived I went right in to see him.  I needed to be trained!

“Good morning!” I began with a smile.  “Great to see you!”  We made small talk for a few moments, until I just couldn’t stand it anymore, until I sheepishly admitted, “So….how do I be a Legislative Assistant?”

He proceeded to tell me that the Legislative Assistant, or LA, was charged with keeping our Congresswoman up to speed on all the areas of legislation we were responsible for, which included our recommendations on how she should vote on bills or amendments that came up for a vote on the House floor.  In addition, I needed to write floor speeches, respond to constituents, and meet with lobbyists as well as folks from her home district.

“It’s sink or swim around here,” he said with a wink.  Then he added, “Don’t worry.  You’ll be fine.”

I went back to my desk and looked at the clock.  My official “training” had lasted only 25 minutes.

I got to work!

Within the first few days I noticed that nobody micro-managed me or checked in on anything I was doing.  The leadership just trusted the staff and everybody did their own thing.  Within the first few weeks I wrote a floor speech for the Congresswoman that she read on the House floor without any changes.  She was so impressed with the speech that she took me out to the House Dining Room for lunch to celebrate.  “I never read floor speeches without major edits.  Keep up the good work Heather!” was basically what she said to me. This was awesome because she was a really impressive person. She eventually went on after Congress to found an organization called Shared Hope International whose mission it is to rescue children from sex trafficking (www.sharedhope.org).

Within the first few months, I also learned several other things about working on the Hill.  Here are just a few of them:

• It wasn’t as “fancy” and “professional” as I had imagined.  Sure, everyone wore suits and worked hard, but their attitude and demeanor was much more laid-back and chill than I would’ve thought.   Our office was a lot like a family, with love and affection between all of us, and with respect and admiration for our boss.  What seemed so formal on the outside was quite laid back and informal on the inside.  There was a lot of joking and carrying on about all kinds of stuff.  Some of the ladies and I would discuss our crushes on various members of Congress, or gossiped about some of the odd things that Members would do.  For example, with the influx of the 1994 Members, there were several of them who would sleep in their offices every night just to save “taxpayer dollars.”  Apparently, one Member who slept in his office was seen walking through the Halls of Power one morning in his bathrobe after his shower.  Eww.

• Working on the Hill is 90% grunt work.  Most of the time I was behind a desk, doing regular desk work like going through my huge pile of mail, writing letters to constituents, attempting to keep up to speed on my “issues” (legislative portfolio), attending numerous meetings, trying to figure out how to advise my Member on how to vote, and keeping up with the House floor and what they were doing.  Oh, and back then staffers mostly dealt with snail mail and the phone rather than email, so I was constantly writing letters and making calls to the many constituents who wrote in to voice their concerns or approval to my Congresswoman.  And somehow those black helicopter/implanted chip people found me at my new job and I had to take calls from them too.   🙂

• Working on the Hill 10% glory.  A small portion of my job that was truly fun.  For example, occasionally I would I would spot a movie star walking through the Halls or at one of the many evening receptions.  I can neither confirm or deny that I once rode an elevator with Ben Affleck, saw Harrison Ford sing Happy Birthday to a staffer two feet away from me, got within five feet of Kelly Preston and just stared at her, got within 20 feet of Hugh Jackman and just stared at him, and met Christian/famous singer Steven Curtis Chapman, who performed a concert for a small group of Members and staff.  I can also state “for the record” that I once played softball with Vice President Joe Biden (he was a Senator back then).  He actually hit quite well and was a super nice and friendly guy.  Those were the fun moments of life on the Hill!

• The other “glory” aspect is that you feel like you have some level of authority and influence to get things done and make a real difference!  I will talk about that more in my next and final post.

• Lastly, faith is alive and well on Capitol Hill.  Many of the members and their staff are strong Evangelical Christians and/or Catholics.  I’m sure other faiths are represented as well.  These Members along with their staff have a strong faith that drives them to make meaningful policy changes for our country.

Several months later, my Congresswoman ran for a Senate seat in her state and lost, so I was again out of job. You have no idea what it is like on election night watching TV wondering if you are about to lose your job. Our office family had to go our separate ways .

Because I had some free time I decided to finish my Masters Degree.  Due to the recommendation of a friend (remember my first post about rule number one — “who you know?”) I was able to get an internship with a Senator’s office.  It felt like a step back for me to go from Legislative Assistant to part-time intern, but I thought that one foot in the door was better than no foot at all. Very soon after I accepted a job as a Legislative Correspondent, which is the position just below LA.  Again, it was a step down, but I attacked the job with gusto.  Although Legislative Correspondent was a good place to start, I didn’t want to end up there permanently so I had an “off the record” conversation with another staffer.  I told her of my desire to become a LA for this particular Senator, and I was surprised at her honesty.  She told me that I didn’t not want to work for this office because “the good legislative ideas get “torpedoed” by the leadership, the Chief of staff is strange, and the Senator calls his wife from the Senate floor and asks her he should vote!!”

“Wait,” I asked.  “I thought that the Senator’s staff was supposed to advise him on how to vote?”  She said “yes, they do but he calls his wife as he heads down to the Senate floor.  His wife tells him how to vote!”

Wow!!

“You don’t want to work here, Heather.”  She said candidly.

Now I was at a crossroads in my career.  Stay in a “safe place” and continue on with this Senator whom I most likely would not be able to work with nor respect.  Or take a risk and venture out with another member of Congress?

Stay tuned for the conclusion of From the Valley to the Hill. 

So there I was, training Miss (southern state) USA to do the job that I should’ve received. Every day I felt like I was eating a HUGE slice of Humble Pie as I patiently worked with her and taught her everything I knew.  I had to constantly swallow my pride and pray daily that I would be helpful and kind to her.  I also felt like this was some kind of a test, and I was determined to pass, even if it was just a matter of sheer willpower.  The test was from God, and I felt like He was asking me: “can you trust me?  Can you choose to be humble and kind?”  Over time, Miss southern state USA and I became great friends and we both opened up to each other about our lives, and I was actually glad that we shared an office as I really started to like her as a person.  Slowly, my jealousy/comparison towards her faded away.  I came to the conclusion that it was not God’s plan for my life to get  that lobbyist job at CWA.  Maybe God had something else planned for me. 

I also decided to face the comments from my boss as to why I didn’t get the job in the first place. Even though I had the experience that Miss southern state USA lacked, I knew my boss was right about her other comments.  I didn’t dress very professionally and I did tend to ramble on (note to self, prepare 4 more blog posts on this topic).  🙂 Even though I was only making $22,000 a year, I decided to go out and buy some suits (not swim) that were a lot more professional than the long, flowing sundresses that I would normally wear.  I started to catch myself when I was speaking and tried to “bottom line” the things I would say.  As to the comments about poise and confidence, I knew that was a symptom to a deeper problem, so I prayed about that. In so many words, God showed me that my identity, the core of who I was, was not in the correct place. In fact, it was in two incorrect places.  First, I determined my sense of worth by what others thought of me.  If they liked me and approved of me, then I felt good about myself and felt that I had value. Secondly, my identity was in “being successful” at my job.  I could write an entire blog post on my identity being in my career, and maybe I will someday, but the ‘bottom line’ is that I needed to put my identity in what God thought of me, namely that I was his daughter, He loved me, He would never leave me, and He had a plan for my life.  He would guide and shepherd my career, and I could trust in Him.  A job could change, but the fact that He loved me would not.

About the time of this spiritual transformation, something very odd happened. One night, I had a dream.  Now, normally I never dream, and this one was very unusual. I had a dream about working for a specific member of Congress – a specific Congresswoman to be precise.

As I was mentioning this over lunch with a group of lady friends at CWA, one of them piped up and said “hey, I know someone at the Congresswoman’s office. His name is Erik. You should give him a call and see if he has a job opening!”

Even though I wasn’t looking to leave CWA, I decided to give him a call. This is how it went: “Hey Erik (not my husband Erik). This is Heather.  So and So, a mutual friend with whom I work,  said I should call you.  I am calling because, I know this sounds crazy, but I had dream about working for your office and I was wondering if you had any job openings?”

I waited with baited breath, wondering if he would think I was a nut job about to start into the black helocopters.

After a long pause, he said “it’s funny you should be calling me. We DO have a job opening. It’s for a Legislative Assistant on social issues.  Send me your resume over right now and I will get you an interview!”

I couldn’t believe it! The job sounded perfect for me!  If this guy kept his word, I would have an interview to work as a staffer on Capitol Hill!

I quickly sent him my resume and waited for the phone to ring. Erik kept his word and I went in for an interview a few days later.  The funny thing is that I really had no huge ambitions to work on the Hill.  I was perfectly content to spend the next several years working with “outside groups” to pass legislation and to influence Federal policy.  Basically, I was content to stay on the outside.  Now I had a chance to become a real “insider.”  But was this what I wanted?

I had three interviews; first with the Legislative Director (LD), then a few days later with the Chief of Staff (CoS), and then I had THE BIG interview with Congresswoman herself.   The four of us met a few days later at the House Dining Room over lunch.  Now here is where I am going to be completely honest with you.  The boss lady was an amazing Congresswoman but the interview did not go that well because there were a lot of awkward silences over lunch.  It turns out the Congresswoman was not much of a small talker and the CoS and LD didn’t contribute much either.  It was a long, awkward, quiet, strange “interview lunch” where the Congresswoman would ask me a question, I would answer it, and then she would literally say nothing for several moments.  I’m not super great with awkward silences, and since I felt like I had to impress them and sell myself, I began to force small talk in between questions.  I felt uncomfortable and fidgety and nervous the entire time and I kept thinking to myself “there is no way I am going to get the job. This interview sucks.”

After the ‘awesome’ interview ended and we were all in the elevator heading back towards daylight, the Congresswoman turned toward me and asked me a very simple, direction question: “so tell me about your Hill experience.”

Too bad this was about the very worst question she could have asked me.

‘Ummmm….I have none’ I thought to myself. But you’re not supposed to say that.  You’re supposed to say something that sounds really good and impressive in that moment.  But honestly, since I’m not a particularly cool person, I just blurted out my most honest answer.

“Uh, I actually don’t have any Hill experience.”

Really. That’s what I said.  That’s all I had.  No Hill experience and my new suit.

The CoS swooped in to rescue me and said “this is true. However, Heather has worked at CWA for two years in Legislation and she has PAC experience and blah blah blah blah” about all the other experience I had.

The Congresswoman, being the no-nonsense person she was, who was also very good at bottom lining, then said: “well, you must be pretty good then. Because it’s between you and the other girl. And the other girl has two years of Hill experience.  My staff rated you two equally, so you must be pretty good.”  After that, she abruptly turned and got off the elevator.  And that was the end of my interview.

I’ve never felt more uncertain after an interview as I did after that one in particular. But since I wasn’t particularly “looking” to work on the Hill, I thought that I had nothing to lose.

A few days later the call came, and the CoS informed me that I didn’t get the job, the other gal with experience did, but he told me that if they had any openings in the future, he would give me a call.

I wasn’t overly deflated because deep in my heart I was not emotionally ready to leave CWA. Despite getting passed over, I still loved it there and had many relationships that I didn’t want to lose.

However, after several weeks, something inside of me changed and I found myself ready to leave CWA and praying that I would get a call from that same Hill office, offering me a job. I didn’t think I had a very good chance to get that call as I didn’t think they would have another opening so soon.  But after all of my lessons in humility and my self-identity, I was finally ready to leave CWA.

And then one day a few weeks later, the phone did ring. On the other end of the line was the CoS for the Congresswoman.  He said “Hey Heather!  Do you have a minute?  We need to talk.”

I looked over at Miss southern state USA and held my breath as I said: “I sure do.”

His next few words would literally change the trajectory of my career going forward.