The difference between liabilities and assets.

I had a job interview Monday for a job doing basic accounting work part-time.

My mind was heavy with the question of disclosing or not disclosing the fact that I had cancer.

I wrestled with whether I would appear as a 'liability' to this company for having my body go wrong once already. Is it too much of a risk to put her on our health-care plan and have it come back? Why put thousands of dollars into training me for a job I might not have for very long.

or....

It could go the other-way.

I would appear as a 'hero' of sorts for having survived something a lot of others would not.

They could see me as a strong, driven person who got dealt a shitty hand and came back to win the game.

I went into my job interview for the posted position of 'administrative assistant' and I told the truth.

At the time, I found it odd that there was hardly any mention of my qualifications nor my work history.

The human resources manager and controller sat on the edges of their seats listening to me answer questions about my cancer experience and how much will and courage it took to get back up on the horse with a little baby and get back into this game called, 'life'.

I told them what it was like to come back from cancer a new person and undoubtedly a much better person.

I left the interview a little uncertain as the 'tone' of the interview was not what I expected. Nor did I expect to ever hear from them again.

I got a call a few hours ago from the same controller who sat in the boardroom with me listening to what I'd overcome and learned and he said he was 'profoundly' touched by my honesty during the interview.

I kept waiting for the 'thanks but we've chosen someone else' speech but instead I got the following one:

"You applied for the position of 'administrative assistant'. We have found someone a bit more 'appropriate' for it but I have another position that you might be interested in" he said.

"We have been looking for quite a while for someone to be my 'assistant'" he said.

"You mean you want me to be the 'assistant to the controller' for all the companies?" I asked totally shocked.

"I'm hardly qualified for that. I have no accounting degree and don't really know that much about running multi-level corporations." I said quite puzzled by the offer.

"You are the most fitting candidate to help me that I have yet interviewed", he said.

"You have learned lessons that others sometimes never get to learn. You can solve problems and you can research solutions. You have a drive to be the best that you can be and I'm going to give you the chance to do so."

I'm going to be working 30 hours a week to start and get used to it and then I'm going to be going back to work full-time helping run this corporation with over 200 people employed in different branches.

I am neither qualified for the job nor do I know the first thing about what I am going to be doing....

HOW AWESOME IS THAT?

Sometimes, I am so happy with the lessons that I have learned from having been through my cancer journey.

The biggest one is to be humble. I am no better than anyone else. I hurt sometimes too. I will help others in anyway that I can and I strive everyday to find positive in EVERYTHING that I do.

Maybe I was the best candidate after all for the job I'm going to be doing.

Cancer made me a liability at first.

But I realized today that somewhere along the way, it turned around and actually became an asset in my life in so, so many ways.