Jobs

Jobs, jobs...yes we've all had at least one job in our life if not many more. I've always worked starting from a very young age. I didn't really need a job or the money but I had a job because it's a sense of accomplishment at any age.

I started out babysitting at 11, for neighbors earning 25 cents an hour. My sister and I split the 50 cents sharing the money. I don't think it was ever about the money, it was more for the fun? I loved to babysit, I wanted to be the best and the most fun. Eventually my babysitting rate moved up to $2.50 per hour but by then babysitting was getting old.

I also started mowing our neighbors yard and shoveling snow around age 11. This actually paid well at $7 per inch of snow. I have no idea of what we charged for mowing. I never even remember collecting the money earned or spending it on anything. I'm hoping we put it into some type of savings account?? I continued to share this job with my sister until we moved away after I turned 13.

My sister started a paper route and I of course wanted to help. Every afternoon Monday - Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning we'd deliver the newspaper by walking to each house. We'd each take a side of the street. This is another job we worked hard for and never saw any profits. Those endless days trying to collect money, sending in money to the Star Tribune and never seeing any of the profit ourselves.

I finally got a real job in High school. I was a hostess in the mall for some restaurant, then I was a salad chef for another restaurant all of which were short lived jobs. I didn't really like working all weekend long when I really didn't need the money. I just wanted the job. I joined my friends who all worked at the Holiday Plus lunch counter. It was more for the fun social part. I earned a whopping $5.35 per hour only because it was a union job of which $10 per paycheck would go back to the union for dues. I aways had money to shop and had too much fun at work so it didn't seem like work. During that time I also worked at my father's office in their Biological Lab. I did all the glassware, made cockroach houses and did misc stuff to help them out. This was another $5 per hour job. Eventually after high school I was hired on full time while I went to college part time. I was promoted to a Lab Technician and got to test various insecticides on Cockroaches, flies, meal bugs and mosquitoes. I worked there for a few years and then decided there was more to life then a 9 to 5 job.

I continued to attend college, then started a home day care part time. Earning just enough money to pay rent. After about a year, I got my job at Aveda. I worked for 11 years in the personal care industry working my way up from a Lab Technician to the Director of Research and Development. This all came to an abrupt halt when I got laid off after 9/11.

Oh, sometimes I miss my old life and job but for the most part I think I am the most happy now. I started my own business which was a goal to do before I turned 40. I also wanted to be home with my kids while they were little. I get the best of all worlds!!

Which brings me to what will I do with all my time next year when Logan is in school full time? I'll probably start out building up my current business and working more. I also have had a goal since I started working at Aveda to have my own line of personal care products. I should have the time to do this and working more at my current business will provide the money to start up my dream company. My working/job goal by the time I'm 50 will to have a thriving personal care company. This will hopefully take me to my ultimate goal of traveling to see everything this world has to offer. I want to finally be allowed to be selfish and do what I want in life by then my kids will be grown and I'll be in the next phase of my life.... But for now I'll live in the present and look towards accomplishing my work/job goals in the future...

As I look back and towards the future at all the jobs I've had in life including Mother, and wife. I can't image life without working and without a job. It provides me with a satisfaction that I am independent and not dependent. I know I can provide for myself and others in my family as long as I work and have a job. I could never be that person to let someone else take responsibility for my fiances. Ever. And that is my entitlement!!!!!!To myself!!!!!!!!!!