Ceci Giltenan’s novel, Highland Solution, came out this September. As if that isn’t lucky enough for all of us, she contributed this delightful story of luck in her own life for my series of Lucky Thirteen stories. I think it’s especially appropriate for the same month we here in the US celebrate Thanksgiving. 

A Lucky Accident

It was the summer of 1986 and I had one semester left to finish my BS in nursing. Most of my peers took jobs that summer as aides in nursing facilities to gain experience. Always preferring the fun option, I took a job teaching “hodge podge” at a summer day camp. Hodge podge was exactly what the name implies; crafts, indoor and outdoor games, music, cooking, anything I wanted it to be. Is there a more perfect summer job?

One game that my campers loved was a team version of hide-and-seek that also contained elements of tag. While playing this one afternoon I had a spectacular twisting fall, pulled a muscle and had to go home much earlier than usual to rest and ice my injury. With my feet up, I watched an early edition of the news that I wouldn’t have seen otherwise and saw a story about a nursing shortage at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). What? I didn’t even know the NIH had a hospital but it sounded cool and I decided that was where I wanted to work when I graduated. That fall I applied and was offered a position.

Aside from the fact that it was the most interesting nursing position that I could imagine having, I am where I am today because I worked there. Eventually that job led to one at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), followed by others in the pharmaceutical industry and finally my own consulting firm. However, more importantly, it was through another nurse at the NIH that I met my soul mate, Eamon. We were married over 22 years ago and built a wonderful family together. I have thought back often on what seemed like very bad luck at the time but I couldn’t be more grateful now for that minor injury.

You can find more about Ceci Giltenan’s luck and her work at her website, www.cecigiltenan.com. If you go to her website and tell her you read her story of A Lucky Accident here, she’ll enter you in a contest for a free e-book of Highland Solution!

You can also follow her on Twitter @CeciGiltenan and Facebook (CGiltenan).

Find Highland Solution on Amazon here.