Jane wiped the counter, the smell of fresh coffee filling the air as she glanced at the clock, another long shift almost over, She had been working at this coffee shop for years, serving customers with a tired smile, but deep inside, she felt stuck, Like she had paused her life and forgotten to press play again
It had been ten years since she gave up on her dream of becoming an accountant, She had no choice back then, Her father had passed away suddenly, leaving her with two younger brothers and a sick mother to take care of, College became a distant dream, and survival became her reality, She took the first job she could find and never looked back
That changed one rainy afternoon when a man walked in, He was a regular, always dressed in a suit, always buried in his laptop, Jane never asked what he did for a living, but on that day, she caught a glimpse of his screen, A spreadsheet filled with numbers, formulas, and reports, Something clicked in her mind, a feeling she hadn’t felt in years,
“Are you an accountant?” she asked without thinking
The man looked up, surprised but amused, “Yeah, I am, Why?”
Jane hesitated, She hadn’t said this out loud in years, “I wanted to be one, a long time ago”
He nodded, as if he understood, “Why not now?”
She almost laughed, “I work here, I don’t have a degree, and I’m too old to start over”
His response was simple, “You’re not, You just think you are”
That night, she couldn’t sleep, His words played over and over in her mind, She pulled out her old notebooks, the ones she hadn’t touched in years, Numbers, calculations, balance sheets, It all came rushing back, She still loved it, And maybe, just maybe, she could still do it
The next day, she started looking up online courses, free tutorials, anything she could get her hands on, She studied every night after work, her eyes burning from exhaustion but her heart full of something she hadn’t felt in years—hope
People laughed when she told them, Her coworkers rolled their eyes, her neighbors whispered behind her back, “Jane wants to be an accountant? At her age?” They thought it was ridiculous, But she ignored them, She had sacrificed enough dreams in her life, She wouldn’t let this one slip away too
Months passed, She completed courses, took practice exams, and even started doing small bookkeeping tasks for local businesses, All while still serving coffee during the day, Her life was exhausting, but for the first time in years, she felt alive
Six months after that rainy afternoon, she got an email, It was from a small accounting firm, They were looking for an assistant, Someone with basic knowledge, eager to learn, The pay wasn’t much, but it was a start
She stared at the screen, her hands shaking, She had done it, She had taken back control of her life, She walked into work that day with a secret smile, knowing that soon, she wouldn’t be serving coffee anymore, She would be working towards the life she had always wanted
And this time, nothing would stop her
I wondered where you were. I wish you a great day.
Hahahaha I wish I could write more and more often but I have a full-time job which takes a lot of my time, but I'm gonna hang tight till I become a full-time writer!
I wish you a great day too ❤️