Craziness.

I got an email this weekend from my friend Melissa, whom I've known for over 20 years now. She lives in Jefferson City with her 7-year-old daughter, Hannah. I don't see her often, for obvious reasons, but I love her and we email each other with a fair amount of frequency.

So, back to said email. It goes something like this:

"Hi, really quick, I'm in Virginia because of a power plant shut down, and I need you to call this lady who's doing a background check on me and give her some references. Apparently, she needs references from you, too, so you could just give her Becky, Robyn or Amy, ok?"

This is where my thought process heads while I'm reading this:

1. VIRGINIA?!? What happened to Jefferson City?!?
2. A POWER PLANT SHUT-DOWN?!? I thought you were a freaking human resources assistant! You just graduated from COLLEGE! What, are you in the CIA now?!?
3. WHAT DO YOU DO THAT THEY WANT REFERENCES FROM YOUR REFERENCES, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD?!? I haven't even spoken to two of those people since we were in HIGH school!

So that's pretty much what I emailed back to her.

Then today, my phone rings. Lo, it is a Jefferson City number. "HELLO?!?" I scream into the phone. It's Melissa.

"Hi Sara? It's Melissa. I need a HUGE favor from you."

WHOA. HOLD THE PHONE MELISSA. So I scream questions one, two and three at her.

What I find out is that after her putting herself through college with her toddler in tow and no baby-daddy in sight, she has decided to take a job working for some company that SHUTS DOWN NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS. Yeah. You read that right. Her daughter is staying with Melissa's parents so Melissa can travel 5-10 weeks out of the year and make the same money she would doing a M-F 9-5 gig.

Ok. I think this is wonderful, but the whole time I'm also thinking, "Where the hell have I been? Why didn't I know about this? WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR DEGREE?!?"

She didn't have time. She has no internet access, so she's driving to the library once a week to get on the computer. She's living in a beach-front condo while she's there, but she's mostly just working at the plant. She's not doing anything more than emptying trash cans, mopping floors, etc., but she's making good money. I guess that's a good thing right?

I'm worried for her. And I didn't even have time to tell her not to just pop things like this on me again.. scared the crap out of me.