“Well, I’m staying here with my godbabies as well,” insisted Carmen passionately. “Wild dogs couldn’t drag me away.”
“I’ll go home and get you a change of clothes,” said Paul with an amused smile. “Unless you just want to stay in the dress. You still look spectacular, you know.”
Carmen wrapped her arms around her groom and laid a long, romantic kiss on him. Half of the emergency department personnel and nearly the whole waiting room started cheering and applauding.
“Well, I’ll always have a great story to tell the twins about their birthday,” William said with a smile as he turned to go find his wife and his new daughter and son.
SARA
Sara left her hotel and was at the hospital bright and early to relieve Martha and Carmen. Martha had not had a problem staying up. Just like her days as a resident. Carmen, on the other hand, was slumped in the rocking chair in the corner looking like an exhausted teenager who had just come home from prom.
Sara managed to get the old roommates out the door and into a cab without disturbing Elizabeth. When she returned to the room, Elizabeth was awake, and two clear plastic bassinets had been placed on either side of her bed. The babies were both wrapped in the standard-issue blue-and-pink-striped blanket. Their tiny heads were encased in little knit caps, one blue and one pink.
“Can you believe this, Sara?” breathed Elizabeth. “I knew that they were going to be beautiful, but nothing really prepares you for this, does it?”
“Happens every time,” responded Sara with a quiet smile. “Elizabeth, let’s take some pictures.”
“Oh, God, no,” said Elizabeth. “I probably look a fright.”
“Actually, you look quite beautiful. And you’ll want these pictures when you’re old and gray. You’ll think back fondly on how young and beautiful you were when your twins were born. Be in the picture, mama.”
“You’re right,” agreed Elizabeth.
Sara handed her each of the babies in turn and began snapping pictures.
“Have you picked out names?” she asked.
“No. We talked about a few, but I wanted to wait and get a good look at them.”
“All right—let’s do it!” Sara declared with a laugh.
They unbundled the babies and laid them side by side.
The baby girl definitely favored Carmen. She had a shock of dark hair and beautiful creamy skin. The boy was almost all William. Fair and blotchy.
“What do you think about Margaret for the girl? After Margaret Thatcher. The Iron Lady.”
“A little Cold War, but I like it. And the boy?”
“I’m thinking Winston,” said Elizabeth. “You know, after Winston Churchill, never give up—never, never, never. Heather has been quoting him a lot these days. I think she’s on to something.”
“Maggie and Win. Sounds like people who are ready to take on the world.”
“That’s the idea,” said Elizabeth softly. “We can’t do it all in our generation.”
As Elizabeth and Sara continued to admire the babies, a nurse carried in a stunning flower arrangement that was so large she could hardly see around it.
“You have quite an admirer,” she teased Elizabeth.
Elizabeth grabbed the card and read:
Sorry I left the party and missed the fireworks. I couldn’t be happier for you. By the way, I wanted to tell you something at the wedding. I’ve gone ahead with that new book, and it should be ready by June. It will be our twentieth college reunion in June—can you believe that? The reunion committee has asked me if I would like to host a lecture for students and interested alumni while I’m there. They wanted me to talk about The Four BIG Mistakes. That book keeps going and going. I told them that I would be happy to speak, but that I would have a new book to discuss. I hope to see all four of you in the audience.
EPILOGUE
From Heather Hall’s Twitter
Heather Hall @therealheatherhall · June 9
Today’s the day—download All the Right Mistakes #NowDartmouthCollege #Nextreallife #seeyouinWisconsin
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HEATHER
Heather stood at the podium in one of the college’s lecture halls. Her twentieth reunion was finally here. She still couldn’t believe that it had been twenty years since they had left.
Her “class” was packed. There were a handful of alumni there, but it was mostly full of graduating seniors and a few underclassmen who had stuck around to hear Heather. It wasn’t every day that you got to be face-to-face with someone famous. And most of them had a lot of interest in her life advice. They were an ambitious group and wanted every advantage as they headed out into the real world.
Heather began, “I know many of you are here because of The Four BIG Mistakes of Women Who Will Never Lead or Win. I’m also here, at least in part, because of the success of that book.
“It’s a comforting thought, isn’t it, to think that if you just avoid a handful of pitfalls, if you make the right moves, if you architect your life in just the right way, that you will be successful. I used to think that way.
“And why not? Most of you probably know I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin. In my hometown, most people think Dartmouth is a dental school.”
The crowd chuckled at the old, worn joke.
Heather continued, “I came here as a freshman with a duffel bag full of all the wrong clothes and the will to succeed. And you all know the story from there.
“What can I say? When you arrive here at Dartmouth, they tell you that you are special. You have been chosen. And you believe it.
“They tell you that again at your graduate school or consulting firm or whatever important place you land.
“Then you get promoted. Other good things continue to happen.
“One day, you find yourself surrounded by people telling you how amazing you are on a daily basis. After a while you think that you possess some secret recipe for success, and you decide to share it. To help the world, you tell yourself.”
Heather paused and looked for her friends in the audience.
“‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions,’ as they say.
“First, I have come to realize that while the experience here at Dartmouth is truly a wonderful one, it is no more special than that of hundreds of other colleges and universities. Graduating from this institution will not protect you from life’s obstacles, and it certainly won’t impress fate.
“Likewise, making a particular set of choices about your life both personally and professionally doesn’t guarantee success either. The events of the last two years have taught me that in spades.
“No matter how hard you plan, life is unpredictable and messy. There’s no getting around it.
“You are probably thinking at this point that you shouldn’t have bothered to come hear me speak. I know you are looking for specific guidance on how to be successful and how to navigate the choppy waters out there. Well, I would like to offer you an alternative to the suggestions I wrote in my first book.
“Under your chair, each of you will find a copy of my new book, All the Right Mistakes. You’ll recognize the characters in there—my friends ‘E,’ ‘C,’ ‘M,’ and ‘S.’
“You will remember the things I said about their lives. How I simplified each of their lives under the umbrella of one overarching mistake.
“The truth is that each of them, like all of us, is a work in progress. And if any of them made mistakes, they were the right ones because, today, each of them is living the life she was meant to lead. I had a wonderful elementary school teacher that liked to tell us that none of us were good or bad at anything. We were just practicing. Mistakes are part of the process of practicing, and you can’t really plan in advance how exactly you will handle them.
“I’m sure some of you out there are asking yourself what then is left for you to employ to help you live your best life if planning isn’t such a great option. I’d like to offer you this.
“My four friends have shown me the importance of four qualities that will be the touchstones for your future success, no matter which path you take. We all have the ability to possess and nurture these qualities, in ourselves and in each other.
“Let’s start with my friend ‘C.’ Those of you who read the book know she had a difficult start, forced to begin her young life as a mother. She is now the CFO of a wildly successful new law firm. Why? Because she created an innovative business model that her firm’s competitors are scrambling to keep up with. And she did it at forty. And, by the way, she was a pretty great mom too. Her daughter landed right here at the college. The thing that made the difference for my friend’s life was her resilience and the faith of a good friend.
“Each of you is going to face bumps in the road. They may not be as early and as profound as ‘C’s’ was, but trust me, they are coming. The thing that will get you through is your ability to bounce back—your resilience.
“Let’s turn next to my friend ‘M,’ who I criticized for dropping out of her profession. She’s just at the start of an amazing new project. She’s using her unique skills in a new and creative way to bring children who might otherwise not survive to this country where they can receive life-changing surgeries and an American education—which is still the envy of the world, despite what you read in the papers. One by one, my friend is adding brainpower to the next generation. Those children might be the very ones who cure cancer or who take us to Mars.
“My friend ‘M’ also experienced the loss of her third child recently, the pain of which I can’t even fathom. But she never lost her optimism. The same optimism that made her a brilliant doctor who always worked with the belief she could heal her patient is now leading her down this new path where she is healing lives in a different way. When fate deals you a bad card, it’s your optimism that will help you move forward to better days.
“You will all be happy to hear that ‘S’ has been promoted. You remember ‘S,’ right? The friend I thought didn’t work hard enough and would never get ahead? She’s ahead now. But that’s not the whole story. You might also be surprised to hear that she turned down an even bigger promotion as part of her getting ahead process. Why did she say no to the even bigger job? Because she had the courage not to walk down a path that would have impressed the outside world but that would have taken away from her family time, which is very important to her in these next years. She had the courage to say no to something for which the time was not right, and to put her family first. I’m pretty confident that she’ll get the even bigger job someday. And when she’s ready, and if she wants to, she’ll say yes.
“Life will give you so many choices, so many opportunities. Have the courage to carefully consider all the people in your life when you weigh them and make your decisions. And please have the courage to ask not just for what you need, but also what you want.
“Lastly, there’s ‘E.’ She is one of the hardest workers I know. I criticized her for not balancing her private life the same way I did. Everyone does things in their own time and at their own speed. ‘E’ never gave up on her goals, and she has reached them, both personally and professionally, with the help of her friends and with her persistence. Sometimes life requires you to just keep going even when you can’t quite see clear to your destination. That’s where persistence will fill the gap.
“You can read more about my friends’ stories in my new book. Please remember, though, their lives aren’t perfect. No one’s is. But they are using their resilience, optimism, courage, and persistence to create lives that are perfect for them.
“I’d like to leave you with one more thought.
“My book includes one last lesson from a fifth life—mine.
“That lesson is to be humble and ask for help. I’m sure all of you are well aware that humility is not a natural state for me. It never has been. But I am in the process of figuring out how to learn from my mistakes. To ask for help and to give it. And to recognize that we are all in this life journey together.
“I was lucky enough to make four amazing friends here at the college. People who knew me right at the beginning of my journey. They wanted to be there for me in the years after we left this place, but my pride got the best of me, and I let myself lose hold of those friendships.
“And worse, I had the temerity to think that it was okay to tell their stories without their permission, and in such an ugly way.
“Each of you here today knows the truth of who you are and what you want your life to look like. You don’t need someone like me to tell you what to do. Trust yourselves. Go out and find your tribe. They will help you remember who you are when the world starts to pull you apart. And don’t wait for the opportunities to come. Make them. Change the existing institutions. Create new ones. Lend a hand. Cheer each other on. Lower a ladder.
“I wish I had not treated my friends the way I did. But I have also learned that life finds a way to give you a second chance. I plan to spend the next twenty years enjoying mine.”
The audience sat a little stunned. And then someone started to slowly clap. Others quickly joined. After a minute, everyone was on their feet giving Heather a standing ovation. She finally spotted her four friends in the back and gave them a nod. She knew her new book was going to be the beginning of her next chapter, and, this time, she wouldn’t be writing it alone.
ELIZABETH
As Elizabeth left the lecture hall, she realized that she had actually enjoyed listening to Heather’s speech. Even though she no longer needed the validation from Heather, it sure felt good to hear it.
She was enjoying this baby-free weekend even more, though. William’s parents had volunteered to take Maggie and Win for the weekend, and Elizabeth felt a wonderful sense of freedom.
It had been only about six months since she and Carmen had gotten the firm up and running, but those six months had exceeded expectations in every way. She had enjoyed figuring out how best to use every contributor’s particular talent—and compensate them fairly. They called their approach “one size fits one,” and it was a smashing success.
They had people working in their new office in the Third Ward—a funky loft space that they had converted into their permanent offices. They also had people working remotely, part-time and full-time. They typically tracked and billed work by matter or piece, but also tracked some work by the hour if it made more sense. The people who were good at client development (like Jeff, it turned out) spent more time on that, and the people who preferred a more introverted existence (like Jenny) were treated with equal importance. Everyone had the ability to receive compensation for individual achievement, but they could also be rewarded for being part of a successful client service team. Elizabeth was also developing a unique approach to talent acquisition, with a particular focus on finding older women who wanted to ramp back into private law practice from a number of workplaces, including the home.
In short, Elizabeth was breaking all the “firm” rules and adjusting as she went along. Elizabeth had made several mistakes, but the beauty of the system was that these mistakes were almost always quickly brought to her attention, and she had the power to fix them immediately.
Elizabeth was a little exhausted, but it was worth it to create the life she wanted.
William was fully in control of what should have been a chaotic home front with two infants. And he even managed to visit Elizabeth with her babies almost every day at lunch. The three of them were always on the way to somewhere for a day of fun.
And Carmen—without Carmen, the thing wouldn’t have flown. The tough part about one size fits one is that someone has to be sure the numbers all add up. And Carmen did. Every time.
She saw Carmen, Martha, and Sara leaving the lecture hall and waved for them to come take a walk with her.
CARMEN
The four of them decided to go take a look at their old dorm. As the Choates came into view, Carmen flashed back to that first day over twenty years ago
when she was meeting Martha for the first time.
The skinny, embarrassed girl sure has turned into a powerhouse, she thought.
And me, well, I’m still Carmen from Texas. But I’m also Carmen who went to Dartmouth. And Carmen the CFO. And Paul’s wife. And Avery’s mother. I’m all of them. And proud to be all of them.
And I’m not embarrassed to say Choates out loud anymore, she thought with a smile.
MARTHA
Martha was having similar thoughts as they walked up to her old dorm. My parents were so happy when I chose Dartmouth, she thought. My dad’s school. And his dad’s school.
Another strong branch on the family tree.
She had just recently accepted that her new life might not measure up to what her parents had in mind for her. She had decided that it was just fine because you truly can’t please everyone.
But then her dad had gone and surprised her. As she was pulling together her plans for a foundation or nonprofit to support her new work, she had gotten a card in the mail with a Boston postmark.
In it she found a note. Her father said that Robert had told him all about what she was doing and that he wanted to help in any way he could. He had also written a check for $1,500,000 and said that she should consider it an advance on her inheritance. “Wish big,” he had written, adding that he had never been prouder of her.
Her mom wrote at the bottom that she was planning to give Wisconsin another chance because she wanted to be a part of her granddaughter’s life (starting with shopping).
That had been a very good day.
SARA
Sara, Elizabeth, Carmen, and Martha decided to end their walk around the Green so they could hear the Baker Bell Tower play the alma mater, which happened without fail at 6:00 p.m. every day. The Green was the heart of the campus, with Baker Library on one end and the Hanover Inn at the other end. Its crisscrossing paths led the way to every corner of campus, or every corner of the world, as the song went. As they got closer to the library, they saw Heather approaching.
All the Right Mistakes Page 24