Two Roads Diverged in a Wood

I think it’s about time I let my blogging audience in on something I’ve been mulling over for almost my entire time in England. After I’d been here a week, I went to the American Church in London with a couple of friends, and we met a nice woman who was looking for an au pair (nanny). At the time, it seemed so far from my plans for the coming year that I was just kind of smiled and said, “Sure, we’ll let you know if anyone on our program is interested.” Then Brittney said something like, “There has to be someone who has already graduated, who wants to stay in London, and who likes kids.” When it was nicely broken down for me into those three pieces, I realized that the description fit me perfectly! I still doubted if I would accept the position, but I decided that I would email Rima (the mom).

About halfway through the trip, right before the Paris weekend, I received a packet of information about the position. Rima had given it to Kate (one of the pastors at the church) who had given it to Brittney (one of my friends who also goes to the church), who gave it to me. I read through it, and all the tasks and responsibilities sounded interesting and do-able. Plus there were some nice perks, like having my own room with a TV and, oh yes, free room and board plus £65/wk. Of course, that wouldn’t be enough to pay off my student loans, but the information was detailed enough that I saw I would have between 8:00 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. free on weekdays, plus Saturday afternoons and all day on Sundays. This would allow for me to get a second job (though not a full-time job) to pay off my loans. Once I decided that this job could be feasible, I emailed Rima to tell her that I was interested in this position.

I didn’t hear back from her for a while, so I wondered if they had already found an au pair or if my email was somehow getting relegated to her junk mail folder or something. But then, on the same day, I received two interesting emails. The first was from Rima, apologizing for not getting back to me (she had been on holiday in north Scotland with no internet access) and saying that she would love for me to come over to their house and have a look around. The second was from the editor of Coffee House Press (in Minneapolis, MN), saying that he would like to set up an interview for an autumn internship position (which I had applied for before leaving for England). Here is where the Robert Frost title of this blog post comes into play. I began to see two possible futures: one living in England as an au pair, the other living with my parents in MN with a publishing internship.

I had the phone interview with Coffee House last Tuesday, and I think it went really well. They said they would let me know their decision in two weeks. Exactly a week later (yesterday), I went over to Rima’s house and met her husband and three children. The au pair’s room is small, but so are the children’s rooms (with the exception of the eldest’s). It seems comfortable though, and the house, garden, and neighborhood are beautiful. They emailed me today and said that, of the two people they were considering, I was the favorite. They want me to tell them as soon as possible if I would like the job, though they are willing to wait until I’ve heard a final decision from Coffee House. In the meantime, I’m requesting for references to be sent to them.

So now I am at the fork in the road. Like the speaker in Frost’s poem, I want to be able to look back at the choice and say with satisfaction: “And that has made all the difference.”

P.S. I just found out that I have also been offered the Coffee House internship. So I really do have the choice between these two things, and I REALLY don't know what to do! They're both such good opportunities!