A NON-FICTION LIFE
BY ALISON SCOTT
“I think the perfection of love is that it’s not perfect.”
-Taylor Swift
W
e all dream of meeting the perfect man and living the perfect life, you know, the
So, for the sake of her children, she went
Hollywood version that is spoon fed to us from an early age. The loving family, the
off in search of a new life - one that she
house with the white picket fence in an upper-middle class suburban neighborhood,
knew wouldn’t be perfect, but one she
raising 2.2 children (obviously one boy and one girl), and a dog. One where having our
knew would be better.
mini-van break down is about as bad as it gets.
However, Corporate America isn’t always
However, trying to actually obtain that version of life is a bit like trying to find a unicorn,
kind to a stay-at-home mom that has been
we all know what it’s supposed to look like, we all want one, but we know it only exists in
benched for 10 years. Lynita found herself
the movies.
in a dreadful situation with few skills and no
Hence, I call this desire to obtain something that we know doesn’t exist - “The Unicorn
Effect.”
Yet, as humans we are stubborn and hardheaded, so instead of us acknowledging that
the perfect life doesn’t exist we all set out in search of one for our very own….
prior work experience. With limited options,
Lynita took a job at a nearby restaurant
where she could walk to work, taking day
and night shifts just to make ends meet.
While on these epic quests, we eventually run into someone that has the potential to be
There she worked for about two years until
our perfect life mate. Once found and the “I do’s” are said, we all have this expectation
a fellow member of her church community
that our perfect Hollywood life is about to begin (cue the happy music, drive off in the
befriended her and offered Lynita a part-
mini-van.) Since Hollywood isn’t reality, most of us end up facing more adversity than
time job performing entry-level accounting
anticipated, some much more than anticipated.
for her real estate company.
This is one such story where the main character thought when she said “I do” her life
would go one way; instead she was faced with trials and tribulations.
When Lynita Elkin met and married her perfect man, P.M. for short, she was a single mom
of a two year old. Since her P.M. was also a father of a two year old, they were an instant
family of four.
That was 11 years ago. Today, Lynita
owns her own business, doing real estate
accounting for a portfolio of real estate
investors.
The lesson of Lynita’s story is simple. In
Shortly after their “I do’s,” Lynita began to see that something was off. Unbeknownst to
reality marriage isn’t perfect, and neither is
Lynita, her P.M. had another side to him - a dark side that abused drugs and alcohol. So
life. The truth is that life is full of adversity.
much for perfection. This behavior led to many late nights of Lynita begging P.M. to come
However, it’s always possible to achieve
home. And, eventually, he would.
happiness, just maybe not in the way we
The days continued to go by. Their life carried on, but with a few unexpected speed
bumps. Lynita found herself pregnant again… and again… and again…
had initially intended.
O