I’ve had a brush with what-if this week as well. We went to visit some friends who we’ve not seen for nearly 20 years earlier this week. Back in the day when we spent a lot of time with them, Dr Beardy worked with S as her deputy and C was the administrator come odd job man. They lived in the flat above the Nursing Home. The owner of the group was in expansion mode and offered us the jobs as S & C we’re moving to the next new home. The deal fell through though, partly I suspect, because Dr B was pregnant with our first born, so I carried on with my career with BT.
Thirty five years on, we live in our own modest detached house in a well to do country town and have by many measures been successful. They live on a 250 acre farm with all the up market trimmings, and a string of race horses which he trains as a hobby (he’s still the CEO of a largish company). She breeds, trains and works gun dogs for the local shoots. Their kitchen extension has a similar footprint to our house. They have a second house within the ‘farm yard’ where there younger daughter currently lives. S’ mother lives in the annex on the second house.
The thing is, neither Dr B or I are jealous of their life and success. We’re very different people to S and C and even had we gone into the business back then, it’s certain we wouldn’t have done what they did. It’s interesting to see what can be achieved though, with the right work ethic, the opportunities and a ruthless streak.