My family of origin consisted of two working parents. My mom went back to work shortly after I was born, stopped for a while when my sister was born some two years later, and then stayed home for the first two or three years of grammar school until she decided to be a nurse. She went to LVN school first, worked a while longer before retuning to RN school, so for all intents and purposes, Mom's been a nurse all of my life. Dad retired from the Post Office, which he joined after the army.
Mom loved her work so much so that in her retirement she's now teaching the nurses of tomorrow. Her one lament is that she sees more and more of the young people in the classroom and on the hospital floor placing their wages before the welfare of the patients. While she's none to happy about that she does get excited when a young person of a particular character really shows that he or she is dedicated to the profession of caring. That makes Mom really happy. I admire my mother for finding and sticking to a career that makes satisfies and pleases her.
Dad is another story. My father is a character plus (pronounced in French) with a very distinct personality, shall we say. He liked the army and probably would have stayed but it was the early sixties and the smell of Vietnam was wafting over Germany where he was stationed, so he served his time and came home. He found work in the Post Office and there he stayed for about 40 years. He never liked it really, he was good at it, he hated the politics (I inherited that), and he had a family to take care of, see below about the homes and private schools, plus he really was good at it. I wonder what he would be like now if he spent 40 years at a job he really liked, which is something to think about long and hard.
Both earned an hourly wage and were able to buy homes, send their children to private schools, take vacations and still have retirement accounts at the end of their working lives. Those days are long, long gone. I have a graduate degree and work a professional schedule that probably equates to about fifteen bucks an hour when you factor all the hours of work that are actually done; I'd tell you the exact number but I'm afraid at how low the number would be.
What has gone wrong in just one generation? Or is this the way it's supposed to be? Part of each of my paycheck goes towards a retirement account and to social security, granted my company matches some small amount that depends upon a vesting schedule (nothing new or earth-shattering there.) And I'm not alone. I'm sure you see the same costs in your life, like health care premiums which we should be thankful that we even have them as so many working Americans do not have health coverage.
Is this the purpose of living? I started this blog to help me move from an existence to a life, a sort of journal that all can see. It's like free therapy, and they say you get what you pay for. So for 90 bucks a year I get to talk about what is near and dear to me, though I can't talk too much about work so as not to violate any confidentiality, I can talk about my family (they read with the exception of Dad so I have some things to consider here,) and I can share about Rosey (her tail is bleeding.)
Oh, this is related, sort of, I read that Chelsea Clinton is dating the son of former elected official who is now a felon. Some would say that Chelsea's parents should be convicted felons. The point is your family of origin sets the values in your life ... Mom found a career she loved that was financially beneficial too, Dad found something he was good at that paid the bills. Am I going to find something that I'm good at but don't necessarily like that pays some of my bills? If only I dated more sons of convicted felons!
