I made a casual comment to one of my sons today telling him that I had worked for 50 years. That means that I have been paid for doing some kind of job or another for all those years give or take a year or so when I stayed home with our first child. From the time I was a teenager, someone other than my parents paid me for a job. Every summer throughout my high school years, I took care of four kids while their mom worked. It was an all day job, and I was paid $35 a week. I worked 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. You can figure out how much an hour I made. Heck, I thought I was rich! In college, it was a $1.35 an hour working in the infirmary. The head nurse had been a missionary nurse in Africa, and she had all kinds of unorthodox ways to break a fever, none of which I will describe in this blog. Let's just say that my 19 year old virginal mind (yes, it's true) was horrified more times than once. I learned a whole lot about human anatomy. Lawsy!
I really wanted to be a star on Broadway or somewhere, but I just didn't have the drive or inclination to do all that it took to accomplish that goal. I became a teacher instead and have loved this profession. No, I have never gotten rich, but it doesn't matter. The thing is, you have a captive audience as a teacher, so you can sing, dance, spout poetry, act out Shakespeare. There's no limit to the performances! In between having children (I was pregnant from 1973 - 1983--four little darlings), I did leave teaching for a bit and sold art for Archie Campbell (yes, that Archie) in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and worked as a reporter/columnist/photographer for our local paper (now defunct).
For the past 20 years, I've worked with adults in our local college who need to get their GED. It has been a most rewarding job. I love these people. I even taught English as a Second Language for a time. An artist, I am not, but I did a lot of drawing on the white board. My first student was from China and she spoke Mandarin. I had no clue as to how to speak the language, but we somehow communicated. I came to love her and her husband. Wonderful people, indeed.
I'm also a writer. Writing is just in my blood. It's good for my soul. Plus I direct and act in plays for our local Little Theater. I'm a pretty busy woman.
So, I worked for 50 years. I'm hoping to retire someday from my "real" job and write for the next 50 years. Well, let's be realistic...at least for the next 30 years.
I really wanted to be a star on Broadway or somewhere, but I just didn't have the drive or inclination to do all that it took to accomplish that goal. I became a teacher instead and have loved this profession. No, I have never gotten rich, but it doesn't matter. The thing is, you have a captive audience as a teacher, so you can sing, dance, spout poetry, act out Shakespeare. There's no limit to the performances! In between having children (I was pregnant from 1973 - 1983--four little darlings), I did leave teaching for a bit and sold art for Archie Campbell (yes, that Archie) in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and worked as a reporter/columnist/photographer for our local paper (now defunct).
For the past 20 years, I've worked with adults in our local college who need to get their GED. It has been a most rewarding job. I love these people. I even taught English as a Second Language for a time. An artist, I am not, but I did a lot of drawing on the white board. My first student was from China and she spoke Mandarin. I had no clue as to how to speak the language, but we somehow communicated. I came to love her and her husband. Wonderful people, indeed.
I'm also a writer. Writing is just in my blood. It's good for my soul. Plus I direct and act in plays for our local Little Theater. I'm a pretty busy woman.
So, I worked for 50 years. I'm hoping to retire someday from my "real" job and write for the next 50 years. Well, let's be realistic...at least for the next 30 years.
Impressive track record.
ReplyDeleteThanks, mybabyjohn/Delores. It's been quite a trip.
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