Working vs Not Working

The other day as I was tooling around Texarkana (AR and TX) I got to thinking about how I'm no longer working and how I felt about that. But first some history on my working life.

I started out kind of early on the working scene. When I was just 9 I starting taking the almost year old baby of a neighbor on stroller rides after school. My neighbor had asked me if I wanted to earn some money and of course the answer was yes. We agreed upon 50 cents per hour (a lot of money back in 1948) to take her daughter for stroller rides around the block on nice days. I would report to Mrs. Wagner's house after I got home from school and she would let me know if I were to take the baby out for that day. I would walk around designated blocks for an hour, sometimes two, and then bring baby Carol back. And that was my introduction to being financially independent.

Shortly before the end of my sophomore year in high school, I saw an ad in the Boston Globe for waitresses in Ogunquit, Maine. So I did some creative date changing on my birth certificate as well as my friend's, Mary, and off we went for a fabulous first summer of waitressing in a restaurant. Again, several months of gaining financial stability. That lead to another year at the end of my junior year in high school. We had two great summers away from the heat and humidity of Boston, went to a lot of parties, worked a lot and had lots of fun... and Mary met her future husband. BTW, they are still married after all these years.

During the beginning of my senior year of high school, I was able to get working papers which allowed me to work in an office. I got a position to the executive assistant to the president of Snap-on Tools at the end of Dustin St in Brighton, MA. I worked there all thru high school and boy did I ever learn... and earn.

Miss Williams (there was no such thing as a Ms at that time) taught me the right way to answer phones, file, greet customers, answer questions, write a concise and accurate business letter, stand up for myself when necessary and any other aspects of office work. Altho I was learning the "theory" in high school, I was learning the "practice" in an actual work environment. I firmly believe Miss Williams gave me the ground work and necessary tools that helped me throughout my long career in the business world. She also stood up for me and helped get me raises as well as showed me how to ask for more money for myself. Altho she was probably old enough to be my mother, she became a true friend but also one of my greatest teachers.

I desperately wanted to go to college and altho I was earning good money for a high school kid, I needed more money to save for college. At that time there were few and far between scholarships for college. Your family either had money to send you or you worked to save money to enter college and then worked while while you were in college to stay there. So when I told Miss Williams I was quitting to take a better paying job to save for college, she said she would miss me very much. In her good-bye card, she tucked a $50 bill as my start to my college fund. You have to realize we are talking about 1957 dollars and that was a lot of money.

In any case I worked in a furniture store in Watertown, MA for about 18 months and then at a resort in Lake Placid, NY for the summer and during my winter break after I started college. In the fall of 1959 I enrolled at Salem State Teachers College in Salem, MA (more about the ironies of making a big circle later or probably in another post). I was fortunate to be able to live with my earlier babysitting post, Sue and Chuck Wagner, who had moved to Salem. I took care of my charge Carol (my stroller baby) after she came home from school. Sue had developed breast cancer and just was not up to taking care of a school child with homework and other activities. Unfortunately, at the end of my first year at Salem, Carol died and I could not longer afford to continue with college. Either I had to work for room and board and get a little part time job at nite which would barely give me enough for tuition, books and other necessities, or I had to quit college. And quit I had to do... one of the darkest days in my so far inexperienced life.

Anyhow, because of my prior working experience at Snap-on Tools and because I had taken typing in school and could move my fingers fast and accurately, I got a job with Tourraine Travel in downtown Boston. That, my friends, was one fantastic job and got me to indulge in my love of travel. I worked at Tourraine for about 3 years; got to become a travel escort for tours to Bermuda, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Nassau and a cruise to the tip of South America. I also got to take theatre tours to New York City by train about 2 or 3 weekends a month when I wasn't taking tours to other exotic places.

But, alas, all good things must come to an end and they did when the owner who had had one heart attack, had another and sold the agency. His agency was scooped up by another big agency in Boston and they didn't have need for a "young" tour escort.

For a few years I worked for a sales / marketing firm in Boston which lead to years of working for my boss even after I quit that job. I would wind up working for him on weekends at fairs and seminars throughout the New England area even tho I had taken a full time position in aerospace.

John Kennedy had become president; the business world was a-twitter with work and aerospace was the place to be. I found a position with RCA in Burlington, MA which was about as far away from downtown work as you could get. However, the carrot dangled before the working person was that aerospace paid exceptionally well and to get an office position in aerospace you earned almost twice as much in outer-space Burlington as you could in downtown Boston. The catch was you needed a car to get there which fortunately I did. There were about 3 happy years working on various space projects including the Lunar Excursion Module and a portable airport which would be used extensively in the Vietnam War.

From aerospace I progress to working at the New York World's Fair for 2 years; met my soon-to-be-husband; moved to California and became a working mother when most women and, certainly mothers, didn't work.

I spent most of my adult working career in various office administration and, for a time, management positions in the business world - mostly in the sales and marketing area. California's working world was very progressive and the money was always good. There were some lean time with a couple of minor recessions but I almost always was able to find a good paying job.

Because I did have good paying jobs and because I was married to someone who always had excellent paying jobs (after he got out of 20 years in the military), I was able to finally begin my long desire for a college education. Unfortunately that desire and other problems lead to a divorce and a way lower standard of living. But by not being married, earning a fairly good salary and not having the children living with me for several years (after all dad had all the money), I was able to complete a B.A degree and 6 months later enter and complete a Masters program.

My original point is that I have worked full time for approximately 55 years, give or take a couple when I was in junior college and several months during my pregnancy with my daughter. And now, I'm at a point when I'm not working in any paying capacity. That's a change, a mighty big one, and for the most part, I think I like it.

At least I have more time for myself... and being a hedonist, that's an important fact. I pretty much get to do what I want on most days. Granted, I'm living with my son's family and acting as a nanny for my granddaughter, but I have many hours during the day to amuse myself.

Guess what - Now that we have a routine in the household, I'm not sure I'm going to like not working. The last 4 or 5 years of my working life, I only worked about 20 to 25 hours a week. But when you teach, even teaching adults, you have lots of hours of prep for classes so you don't really work part time. I don't really have to prepare for anything other than making sure my granddaughter is taken care of.

I guess when I get a bit more settled, especially in my own apartment, I'll venture out and see if there are things to join. However, never having been much of a joiner, I'm not sure how that will work.

When I look at the situation overall, I think I like the ability of not having to be anywhere at any particular time to do something. It just might grow on me.