Three weeks after the Declan Vale disaster, she accepted an entry-level logistics coordinator position with a regional corporate event planning company.
Her starting salary was fifty-six thousand dollars a year.
She almost rejected the offer.
Mom, perhaps emboldened by paying her own utility bills, told Brooke to dry her tears, accept the position, and learn how to use spreadsheet software.
That single piece of maternal advice may have been the most staggering plot twist in the entire saga of our family.
Brooke took the job. She lasted six grueling months of arranging folding chairs and coordinating catering deliveries. Then, miraculously, she lasted twelve months. Then, she secured a modest promotion to an account manager.
The last time we briefly discussed her career trajectory, she was earning seventy-one thousand dollars a year. She still complains about the taxes. She still harbors intense, burning desires to break into the six-figure bracket.
Epilogue: The New Architecture
