When I think about my parents jobs…I think about how blessed we were. My parents weren’t making millions, but they had successful jobs and they were able to provide for their family. They are both living the retired life now together (they timed this perfectly)…but they set a great example for my sister and I.
When I was younger I always liked going to my mom’s job over my fathers job.
Her job was just better and less stressful (I will get to this point a little later). My mom worked at NASA, and no she was not an astronaut…this is a question kids always asked when I told them where she worked. When we were younger, she worked as a Physical Science Technician…next door to her office was this lab that honestly, I always thought was pretty cool. I always pictured her doing experiments and stuff. Aside from that we always loved her coworkers like they were family, and even during some of our biggest moments in life…you knew they were going to be there to support us as if we were family. It was nothing to walk into her office and they knew all about us, and even during hard times prayed for us right on the spot!
As time went on she moved out of that office and into the Equal Opportunity Office (these were the coworkers I was speaking of earlier…from this office) and before retirement she was the Director of Diversity and Equal Opportunity. As a woman I admired her because I know how hard she worked to get to Senior Level Management…and she did it without a degree. That’s one “Bad Lady”…and I get to call her Mom!!!
My father worked as a Regional Travel Coordinator for Maple Heights Adult Activity Center. My father taught developmentally disabled adults how to use public transportation around the City of Cleveland. I called his job stressful (for me) because I was always scared of the clients at his job, I was young and I really didn’t understand about developmentally disabled adults. Even though I was scared he never let up on me, he still made my sister and I come around and learn about different disabilities. He even taught us sign language at a young age…its always a joke at church because if he is on one side of the church and I’m on another we use sign language to communicate.
Now thinking back on all that we learned at his job about disabilities and different ways people are taught who have delays…I guess you can say he prepped me in being able to handle everything that is going on with Emma. One of the things my father taught us at an early age was sign language, this prepped me for college when I took 4 quarters of American Sign Language and with communicating with my daughter.
One thing that I always loved about my dad’s job is that he wasn’t sitting behind a desk. Everyday was different for him and he really knew all about the City of Cleveland…and it was fun on the weekends because he would show us different things that we probably wouldn’t have seen had he not been out working in the field at work.
So now after writing this I think I could’ve done either job. If you asked me which job I wanted a few years back I probably wouldve said my moms job, I have always wanted (thought I wanted) the corporate career. But now if I had to pick one now that I’m an adult…It would be my father’s job. Working with Emma and her delays I think this job would be most beneficial! Honestly, its something I would love to help others with…anything I find out that helps Emma if someone asks I am always willing to share information, so I think I would be a better fit for my father’s job than my mom. Funny how life works!!
