Jobs

What was your first job, your worst job and your dream job?

My first job was as a summer Youth Worker at a local church. At the time, I thought church work was something I wanted to go into full-time, so this job made great sense. I did have a good time and learned much about myself and about working with others, particularly middle schoolers.

My worst job? That one is harder. I think I'll cheat a bit and tell you about my worst summer. The biggest bummer that summer was that my boyfriend, who at the time would eventually be my husband, broke up with me. In hindsight, I see that there were many signs that the breakup was coming. At the time, I was blindsided and devastated. Another 'hindsight' observation was that I had already been dealing with being depressed for months when this happened, but this sent me reeling into a full-fledged depressive episode. I will never forget driving myself to the classes that I was taking and having to pray my way there to keep from crashing on purpose. NOT a good memory, let me tell you!

Then later in the summer, we had a foreign exchange student come live with us for 6 weeks. She was a piece of work! She would sit in front of us and talk about how we weren't doing the things she wanted us to do in French, so we couldn't understand her. About 2 weeks after she arrived, my sister gave birth to her third child. Labor and Delivery went fine, but little Maria ingested some meconium and was rushed to NICU. There, they realized that she was going to need a blood transfusion. Needless to say, we were all very worried and spent many hours running back and forth to the hospital. I didn't even get to see the little sweetie until she was 10 days old. (And wouldn't you know that the aforementioned ex-boyfriend got to see her before I did?? He was an EMT and had to transport another infant and got to see her then!)

Oh, yeah, I was supposed to mention a JOB here wasn't I? I was working at a greeting card store in the mall that summer, and honestly that job was my sanity. It was easy to pay attention to customers or straightening the store as opposed to how out of control my life felt that summer. I continued to work it seasonally for the next few years and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Now. My dream job! Well, short of being a famous author, I think I HAVE my dream job. Teaching first grade is definitely a challenge, but one that I love and enjoy immensely. I LOVE my students, I love teaching students to read, and I love the feeling I get helping others grasp concepts for the first time. That is not to say that there aren't days that I dislike it (um, like yesterday!!) but I do feel like it is my calling. I can't think of any other job where I would be more stimulated or come away being more fulfilled.

So there ya go!