Like every typical American girl, the very first "job" I had was babysitting. But my first babysitting jobs weren't typical babysitting jobs. The first paid babysitting job I had was for a little girl who had been diagnosed with ADHD. It was the late 80s/early 90s and not much was known about those types of diagnosis. It was a rather interesting evening and it prepared me for my next steady babysitting job... watching a family of 4 kids... one of which was developmentally challenged (i.e., "retarded"). Two boys and two girls and a lot of ruckus was always guaranteed. On Fridays I'd get off the school bus at their house and cook and tend until their parents got home usually some time around one the next morning. Nearly 20 years later and I am still in touch with the kids. The child who was labeled has gone on to graduate from high school and has become a great asset to his community as a functioning adult. I have to say it was a lot of work at the time, but nothing compared to what I'd do a few years later.
A short while later I started cleaning homes and doing yards for the elderly in the small remote town I lived in. While I was cleaning one couples' home they discovered that she had cancer. I learned so much from her in the couple of years that I helped around her home. But for some reason the two things that have always stuck out and still pop up from time to time are (1) if you're expecting company and you don't have time to clean the kitchen, just dump it all in the stove (but don't forget the dirty dishes are in the stove when it's time to use it again!) and (2) always, always, ALWAYS put lipstick on before you answer the doorbell... because even if you don't have your face on you'll always look put together (and she wasn't kidding!).
Just before I graduated from high school I worked as a fry girl and car hop at my friend's parents' drive-in. NEVER. AGAIN. Standing over the greaser just wasn't my idea of fun. But it gave me something to put on my resume and got me into the job force.
A month later (told you it wasn't my idea of fun...) I was working in the accounting and inventory control department at an airplane factory. That was one of those summer long jobs that just kept me busy and occupied before I left for college. I learned I had some awesome 10 key and data entry skills hidden within me... but aside from that and meeting Harrison Ford when he flew in once it was just another entry level job to add to my resume.
While in college I worked as a telephone operator at the switchboard for the campus. That was probably one of the funnest jobs I had... despite the late night hours and the embarrassment of being carted out from the basement of the building on a stretcher on more than one occasion after suffering through a public seizure (my seizures are another post in and of itself but suffice it to say after several concussions and a lot of stress it's become just another way of life and one more thing to be dealt with and handled).
I also worked for the local 4-H program while I was in college. It was two fold. I got to continue to enjoy my involvement in the program and I got a small grant each semester to help with my expenses. I learned that sometimes hard work isn't enough to break through in a profession and I learned how to survive in a man's world. It was about this time I learned that wallflowers wilt, but the squeaky wheel... the squeaky wheel proves that powerful things come in short packages.
Unfortunately, working two jobs, attending classes, and dealing with my health issues became too much for me and I soon left school and moved back to Wyoming.
My next job would be with the local school district working in the special education department. I was a one-on-one aid assisting an eight-year-old boy with Downs Syndrome who had the mental capacity and functions of a three-year-old. I spent a lot of time that year learning and teaching ASL so that we could communicate and trying my hand at potty training. The teacher's classroom where we were assigned to also had an Autistic girl in the class and so we spent a lot of time with the two children working together on projects and participating in activities outside of the classroom. While I enjoyed this position it just wasn't stimulating enough for me and at the end of the year I took another job.
I worked for a couple of years at a local real estate office. It was a one woman shop so I was office manager, administrative assistant, and graphic designer all rolled into one. This job was certainly more challenging, but it wasn't that much of a leap from taking care of the special needs children to wiping the noses of dirt pimps. It left me with little to no flexibility and I began to question the ethics of the broker and his associate. And the pay was not worth the stress. In fact the pay was so poor that I'd already made arrangements to start working evenings at the local Pizza Hut to try and ease life between paychecks. So one afternoon after a particularly heinous act by the associate broker I gave my notice and walked out.
Pizza Hut was short lived. I struggled there during the 3 month off season... making an entire car payment in quarters while I tried to figure out where to go and what to do next. Another NEVER AGAIN.
My "next" would find me commuting one way 80 miles... twice a day... 160 miles round trip. I applied at a law firm and was hired as a legal assistant. Within my first six months at the firm I was "promoted" through a series of events to office manager. I was the assistant for four attorneys. There was never a dull moment. I saw some interesting cases and got to know some even more amazing clients.
I worked hard. Very hard. And after four years I needed something different. And since this post has already become a short novel I'll just make a long story short by saying I left the firm to work for one of the marquee partners at his "other" office where I was welcomed with my own office space and a whole new list of responsibilities... I've been here three years and counting... AND I LOVE IT!
