In the summer of 2014 I interviewed for a job with Constellation, a national competitive energy provider based in Baltimore. I got the job, as a contractor, but the start date kept getting pushed back, into August, then September. My frustration grew with each passing day, as I was very anxious to get to work. At last, I got a confirmed start date, in the third week of October. During this time, my dad was in and out of the hospital, so I was spending a lot of time visiting him and helping my mom in his absence. As it turned out, my dad passed away on October 14. I had been able to talk with him, hear stories from his childhood and early adulthood that I hadn’t heard before. We connected in ways we never would have been able to had I been working full-time. Then, after he died, I was able to help my mom make the funeral arrangements and, with my brother, help her get through the first few days of life without her husband of 66 years. In hindsight, the delay of starting my