My Cash Drawer

I have watched enough Tom & Jerry to last me the rest of my natural life so it is not surprising that I am thinking in cartoon visuals. Right now I am picturing a dust cloud and from it emerges a white flag on a stick. Sure this indicates surrender but it also implies survival. Like when Francis Scott Key was so pleased to see the Stars and Stripes still waving over Baltimore's harbor and the British looked at the same flag and said, "Oh bother" and promptly sailed down to DC and torched the place.

Like that. I feel like that.

Patrick and I were talking about disease in general and viruses in particular. I told him that one of the major differences between a bacterial infection like the one he had during the summer and a virus such as the one that just leveled our family like a field of corn is that bacteria are alive and viruses are dead. For the record my entire knowledge of biology can be summarized by a plethora of these random, unrelated and not fully understood bullet-points: Viruses are dead and shaped like needles, maybe! The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell! Kingdom phyllum family order (or is it order family) class genus species! Hydrogen helium lithium beryllium boron carbon nitrogen oxygen fluorine neon!

It almost goes without saying that I did not do very well in biology. In fact, that final D was generous.

But Patrick doesn't know this so I am able to lecture him with a straight face on the relative suckitude of viral vs bacterial infections. You know, it is lovely to see the respect with which he treats my discourses (my biology teacher never managed to get much beyond pity) and even lovelier to hear him synthesize what I tell him into his own random cue cards:  "So, basically, viruses are like zombie germs?"

And I said, yes, yes that is exactly right.

So hello from the far side of Zombieville.

I have been trying to decide if I have any H1N1 wisdom to share for when you get it (and you will get it) but it's such a funky illness that it is hard to characterize.

Patrick returned to school today after being out all week and half of last week as well. It's second grade. Big deal if he misses - well, all of it really as far as I'm concerned. He wasn't deathly ill but he would spike a fever every afternoon and he was lethargic and coughing a lot. So he stayed home and it wasn't until yesterday when I discovered him placing large plastic bowls over Caroline's head which he then proceeded to bang with a ladle that I realized he really needed to return to the bosom of his little school chums. Edward started a delicate cough on Sunday night which was all I needed to break out the Tamiflu and I am so glad I did. By Monday morning he was a small disaster: high fever, rashy, horribly congested, screaming and screaming and screaming. He spent a day sitting on my lap with both his blankies, a pacifier which prior to this has been a bedtime only indulgence and one hand wrapped in my hair. Tuesday he was a thousand times better and now he is completely well except for an inability to sleep through the night which is killing me. Last night I rocked him to sleep, gently transferred him to his crib, slammed to the floor when he stirred in hopes that he would not see me, crept on my stomach toward the door and then... gently rocked him to sleep again when he sat up and started howling. Caroline also started Tamiflu on Sunday, largely because Edward did and there is virtually no way for Edward to have a virus that Caroline does not also host. They sit across from each and push their cups and forks back and forth and just the other day I watched Caroline walk over to where Edward was reading and she licked his face. Why? Why not, I guess. She never got a fever, by the way, just a stuffy nose.

Steve, of course, was fine although this did not prevent him from drinking copious amounts of herbal tea and lying down with his book every few minutes. An ounce of prevention I guess.

Enough about the flu. I am done with the flu.  

So want to hear one of my favorite stories? I wonder if I have told you this one before. Probably.

A person of my acquaintance who is a Big Deal at his place of employment once decided to treat, oh I don't know, let's say the accounting department, to lunch at the completion of a particularly arduous project. So he had someone order pizza and when it arrived he went to the young man who was in charge of petty cash and said, "Hey, give me a couple hundred dollars from petty cash so I can pay for some pizzas."

And the petty cash guy said, "No."

"No?"

"No. You haven't filled out a request and it hasn't been signed by Even Bigger Deal so, no, I am not giving you money from the cash drawer."

The person of my acquaintance was annoyed, one might say irked, and heatedly asked the guy, "Look, do you know who I am?"

"I know who I am."

"And who are you?"

"I'm the guy who is in charge of the cash drawer so... I guess that makes you the guy who isn't getting any cash."

Every time I think about this I laugh and every time my mother and I are talking about someone who has their own particular field of interest we say, "Well, you know, everybody's got their cash drawer... ."

Speaking - loosely - of jobs I have an idea for another article I might want to try to sell but I need some help from you. Remember a couple of weeks ago when I asked if you liked your job? A couple of comments made me tingle a bit and I would like to revisit that question. Specifically, could you leave me a comment or email me if the thought of what you (or a friend - it's always nice to refer a friend) do for a living (or a partial living) makes you pink with pleasure or you can say the words 'dream job' without rolling your eyes? You don't have to be making a fortune or anything, I just want to talk to people who find joy in what they do.

PS

Pre-influenza pictures:

We went to pick pumpkins. I said, "Patrick! Please keep Edward out of the parking lot."

His hand shot out and he proceeded to use Edward's hood like a leash. I admit it was effective.

 

Patrick took his pumpkin very seriously.

 

Sometimes Caroline and Edward seem more like twins to me than others

Hope you are well.

Comments

[Marie]

We are just getting over the awful "numbers and letters" as well. I do love my job. I am a nursing home social worker. :)

[beth]

H1N1 sucks. Kiddo had it in May (when I was starting a new position) and we had it last month. Knocked me out for a week and a half!!! So here's to Caroline not popping up with her own version of stuff anytime soon!

I had to comment regarding my job. I've had many over the years, and most of them I found something in them that I liked. My last stretch was 9 years in IT in the support area. The last couple of years I lived for getting to do analysis and run reports and create processes and such. People would say that they should just give me a position doing reports/documentation/etc. Oh how I would have loved it! However, the economy happened and it never materialized as a possibility. I liked what I was doing for the most part- but it was very stressful- between customers and politics and systems and such-- I was really really really stressed out. More than I realized. What was adding to things was IT was not equal to job security. So I kept my eyes open and saw a job posted in my company (I <3 my company and didn't want to leave.)
During the interview, the managers explain that the job had changed scope since it was posted and they were looking for someone to do reports and such.
Have you ever thought you knew what you were getting into - and were okay with it, only for you to get there and they start describing your dream job? That's what happened to me!

I got the job and I love it. I miss the geeks of the IT world (I am a GEEK) but I work with really nice and interesting people. I have a job that I don't have to be in fear of not having an internet connection or carry a blackberry around for. I get to create reports against our db and help people make our company even better. I've learned a lot of new things about our business and I'm excited about work again. And I dropped 10 pounds just from the less stress. My time is mine again.

There's lots I can share about why I love it and I'm happy where I'm at, even if from an outsider POV I'm not doing something technically amazing like saving lives or writing novels or creating great works of art.

[Priscilla]

My job is perfect for me. I am an RN but hated bedside nursing and just as I was about to start my own geriatric care management business a friend who is an elder law attorney needed some help. The pay was more than I had ever made. It was temporary, just 8-10 hours a week. Nearly 3 years later, I work as many hours as I need/want (this week it was 45!), I take off when I need to, I have a laptop so that if a kid is sick I can take work home (but don't have to...it's about getting the hours, really), I have just the right balance of brain work mixed with social work type stuff, AND a boss who totally gets that family comes first. Plus, I am in his rock band (that started way before the job), so we often talk music. I couldn't ask for a better deal (well, except health insurance would be great). I also have a second job, a volunteer job, which I love more than my first (even though it doesn't pay)...I am the director of a community band I started 8 years ago and LOVE it!

[kris (lower case)]

i have heard that the congestion and coughing ones lung up is the most lasting and worse part of the whole swine flu thing. i hope we miss out on this little adventure...

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1073944974]

I love my job!

I am a cashier at a Tobacco Outlet and it is the perfect job for me...great hours, great co-workers, decent pay, good location, friendly customers...Plus I get to get away from the 2 teenagers and needy husband a few days a week, but still be present when needed. It is also the "Custer's Last Stand of Jobs Where You Can Smoke Inside The Building" and I'm a smoker, so I love that too.

[Angeline]

I teach piano and I love it. The individual minutes are often not terribly exciting but the overall progress and watching the kids (and adults!) grow and learn and get confident about what they're able to do is thrilling and amazing. I feel like I'm making the world a better place every day that I teach.

[Cara]

I am another job lover. I am a nanny - I get paid to be a stay at home mom with all the fun perks, none of the money worries and I get to go home and sleep through the night! Truly I do love it though, I don't have children of my own yet, so this is a perfect way for me to get my mothering tendencies out in an appropriate fashion. ;)

I also am recovering from the dreaded H1Nwhatever myself and GAH it was awful! I've been on the couch for a week now and am just finally feeling like sitting up. On the bright side, I'm sure I lost weight, just laying here having a fever for a week.

Glad you all are well again!

[bethany actually]

Wow, reading about everyone's jobs is so interesting! Julia, you have a lot of educators for readers, at least among your commenters.

I am currenly a full-time mom and military spouse (both of which feel like jobs in themselves, sometimes!), but in the past I've worked as a middle school tutor for a college readiness program--not a snooty program for rounding out applications of kids who got straight As, but a catch-up program for kids who got B's and C's but showed real potential, to help them improve their math and writing skills, take them on tours of college campuses, go on cool field trips, etc.--and I LOVED that. I also worked as a "teacher" in an after-school program at a small parochial school and that was fantastic. I didn't have to get up early in the morning, I didn't have a rush-hour commute, I didn't have to deal with red tape or meetings. I helped with homework occasionally, and I got to play with kids on the playground and do puzzles and color with them. That was pretty much my dream job.

[Bonnie]

Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family Genus Species. Pnumonic I still remember from 9th grade (KPCOFGS) Kinky People Caress Others For Great Sex.

[Linda]

I love my job. I'm a Teen Associate at the local public library. I get to buy books for teens, talk to teens about books, play and do crafts with teens, and still walk away at the end of the day without feeling like I failed somehow. It is the perfect combination of detail oriented work and creativity. I get to feel competent at all the day to day stuff but I also get to soar with all the programs and presentations I do.

[teachin']

I love my job a ridiculous, disgusting, slobby amount. And I'm another teacher (interesting how many people in the education and health fields seem to love their job - these alleged hard-to-staff areas...). I teach 8th grade Language Arts at an urban school, and I simply cannot believe how lucky I am every single day. (Which is not to say that it's not challenging and that I don't have bad days where things go wrong - but I never question whether or not I love my job.)

[Crystal]

Thanks. Glad to know you're on the right side of the aforementioned evil, and it is perhaps not quite so much in residence.

Worry number 2,341. Check (numbers significant not of importance of said worry, merely of my genetic and inborn ability to worry about everything from world peace to the dwindling population of monarch butterflies, and to never let one of those worries possibly escape my lifetime list of worries until it has EMPHATICALLY been proven not to be worry-worthy).

Wow... more lameness on display. I SO rock!

I love my job, er jobs, er... well... I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up (I turned 40 how many freaking weeks ago?) so me talking about my jobs is probably like the deaf, mute, blind, and spineless leading the blind and saintly. A bad idea no matter what perspective you view it from, and likely not terribly useful anyway.

I'm sure your much more charming, interesting, intellectual, successful, and otherwise readable readers will step up to the plate. Go team!

[emily]

Kingdom phylum class order family genus species (Kinky Porcupines Cry Out For Great Sex). ;) Everything is better with a mnemonic.

[Boris]

Julia,
I think that there are not "dream jobs", there are some people who have a great attitude that allows them to enjoy the job that they have at their hands at that particular moment.
I am a Project Engineer and I love my job, I start with an idea/concept... then I work with a lot of people within and outside of the company who don't report to me,and finally the idea/concept becomes a reality! I love it! The final project is there "forever" indicating if I did a good or bad job of generating engagement and coordinating efforts to create something new.
Yes, you could say that I am lucky with the job that I got. But what about the job that the CEO of my company has? He has a lot of power, but one day I entered to his office and asked him how he was. And his answer was, I don't know, it depends on what you are going to ask me...
So how he was, was depending on my words...
He was giving me power to change his life for better or worse.
Concluding, dream jobs don't exist, what you can find is "Great attitude"
All the best

[Leslie]

Glad to hear you're on the upside of the flu. My two kids still living at home both had it this week and so did I. My poor son is missing his varsity state championship soccer game today because he's been flattened with the flu all week. At least he's well enough to go watch!

I'm another job lover. I'm an artist. I work for myself, painting, curating shows, teaching workshops and doing some free-lance design work. I work in encaustic - a kind of paint made with beeswax and worked hot so my house smells like warm honey when I'm working. It's a beautiful medium - translucent and intensely colored and I love working in it!

[Tine]

Note on the "vaccine fail." I think it's supposed to take a good 2 weeks after vaccination for immunity to develop, right?

[Beth]

Hope you all are on the upswing of health. Love the hood-leash. Patrick does not disappoint and the twins are edibly adorable in that wagon.

I love my jobs. Adjunct pediatric nursing instructor and per diem pediatric ER nurse. Except lately the pediatric ER totally sucks on account of, you know, oinky oinky. Being adjunct and per diem = not so great financial security and no benefits, but I call my own shots and pretty much work when I want to. Thanks husband for working full-time.

BTW, said husband loves his job too...he's a therapist for junior thugs in a residential outdoor adventure treatment/juvy justice camp. They ride mountain bikes, rappel down walls, and talk about maybe not being thugs anymore. It's pretty much the ultimate outdoorsy-man job.

[Regina]

I work in a hospital laboratory and perform the PCR test that distinguishes between flu strains.

If you had a general flu test (a rapid test in the doctor's office) and were diagnosed with Flu A, you are presumed to have H1N1 because at this point it is really the only strain circulating. At my hospital, we are not subtyping everyone, just monitoring for the reappearance of other strains.

However, if you did not have a flu test, but were diagnosed on symptoms alone, you may not have flu at all. Our rate of flu positives is quite low. We have tested symptomatic people for other respiratory viruses and a lot of what's out there is coxsackie/echovirus, rhinovirus, parainfluenza, and bocavirus. And some symptomatic people don't have a virus at all.

Usually I like my job but I have to say this flu outbreak is making life miserable, work-load wise.

[amy]

Delurking to say that I love my job.

I work as a microbiologist for a small biotech company and grow novel microorganisms to see if they make new antibiotics.

[Ruth]

Only one down so far at our house (she said, searching frantically for some wood to knock), although of course that was the one who had a play to open yesterday. Tamiflu worked wonders here.

I've used Patrick's Toddler Restraint System many times, it's very effective. As are overall straps, with which you can restrain and reposition (read: hoist off the ground and place where you want them, particularly useful when coping with the Toddler Flop) when necessary.

[Another happy professor]

Another professor here to say I love, love my job! I'm tenured now at medium-sized private university with fabulous students. Love my lab, my grad students, my colleagues. The stimulating environment, the beautiful campus, the lifestyle (travel as much or as little as I want, set my own schedule). I get to (and have to) write, think, read, speak, teach, and write some more. When I wake up in the morning, I can literally decide what I want to work on that day: What's the most interesting question I can think of? Of course, teaching constrains my schedule a bit but research is the primary focus of the university and how I spend most of my day.

I can often cut out for a couple hours on a gorgeous afternoon. Which is not to say I don't work hard; many weekends and evenings are spent working, but because it's my choice when to do it and what to work on, it's quite enjoyable.

Worked my ass off to get where I am but it was so worth it!

[Jennifer]

Most days I really love my job (I am a SAHM for the moment and yes, I consider it my job and yes, it is work!), but this week the stay-at-home mom gig has really kicked my butt. For the first time in a while I really really really wish I was working outside the home so I could just GET OUT OF HERE. Why? Because we had the flu too. Right now I'm on viewing number 32 of Nemo, have watched too many Sesame Street episodes to count (thank you, Tivo), not slept well for days on end due to toddler crankiness all night, not had a break during the day because of aforementioned toddler crankiness meaning that naps were nonexistent, and in general I AM SO DONE with this flu too. My oldest got it two weeks ago and recovered quite nicely so I was foolish enough to think the rest of us had been spared, ha ha ha...and now I am just waiting to fall. Sigh.

Here's to healing in both our households!

[Jessica]

I love my job and my employer who lets me do this job in a way in which most wouldn't think wouldn't be possible, but it lets me live where we want and have a pretty great work/life balance. I don't want to say what it is here, because it is a very in the spotlight field at the moment, but feel free to email me.

I am glad you are all on the mend!

[Sharon]

The job I love:

I teach math (gasp! Shudder! etc.) at a private college in PA. It is totally awesome. I love teaching, I love figuring out problems, I love watching my students have the "aha!" moment when they figure something out...

So there you go.

[Krys72599]

Glad to hear H1N1 has moved on to another home... Hopefully it's not en route to mine!

I love my job. I am a reader. I am addicted to books. My jobs, all but one of them, have been somehow related to books.

I worked in a local independent bookstore parttime for 6 years. We got paid on Wednesday nights and I'd take my check, cash it out of the drawer, buy my Harlequin Romances for the week, then go put gas in my car and wait for next week's check!

Then I went to work for a book distributor and made a name for myself as a children's book buyer. And once that company closed down, I got a job selling for a major publishing company.

Imagine. Addicted to books. And surrounded by them all day. Every day. It's great, even on an off day!

[Marni]

I don't know how many other people would consider my job a dream job, but it's a dream job for me. I'm a managing editor for online educational programs, and I have been working part-time since my son was born. I make my own hours, work from home much of the time, and work with a wonderful, friendly group of people who are totally supportive of family time. The work is interesting (learn something new with each program!) but not arduous, and they throw me a challenge every now and then to keep me on my toes.

[Tine]

I keep forgetting to answer the question.

I love my job too. I'm a freelance editor (about 75% of the time) and writer (the other 25%). I write and edit mostly upper-grade nonfiction books for a local publishing company: hard science, politics, geography, history. I also do the occasional pregnancy/parenting book. It pays less than half the job I had before birthing kid#2 (editorial director at a book publishing company), but I. LOVE. IT. Even when it is driving me crazy, as it currently is. (I made the mistake of agreeing to write a book on a very controversial and cutting-edge political/technical topic for high-schoolers, and let's just say I'm feeling quite challenged, shall we?) I love it because I get to read and write all day...well, all the parts of the day during which I'm not wiping my own kids' noses, butts, or messes, that is. I also get along much better with my new boss (me). :)

[Amy]

I adore my job. Really. I can't imagine anything better. I'm a middle school science teacher/technology coordinator for a teeny-tiny preK-8 school on the coast of Maine. Well, I guess it would be slightly better if we were private but still had all the perks of a public school so we wouldn't have to give those damn standardized tests. But otherwise it is a dream. I LOVE middle school kids, especially the rambunctious boys who are really a cross between toddlers and puppies, except they smell worse and can't keep their pants pulled up.

Also, technically viruses are considered nonliving since they were never alive to being with. So zombie germs is actually a pretty good description.

And my classification mnemonic: King Peter could order Flagg giant squid. It's a reference to Stephen King's The Eyes of the Dragon, which I was reading in college when I learned it for the first time. (And now I teach it to 6th graders? Why didn't *I* learn it in middle school?)

[Kim]

I was an adjunct professor of Russian at a small, elite liberal arts college for six years and LOVED it because it was non-stop enjoyable. Now I teach math in high school, largely to kids who struggle with the subject. I can't say that it's non-stop enjoyable, and there's so much more hard, hard work to do, but when you see struggling kids overcoming personal obstacles, it's really the most inspiring thing I've seen in my life.

[Uncooked]

I love my job too. I am a homeschooling mom. It's flexible, exciting, stressful, and so much fun that I can't begin to convey how much. We travel a lot, visit all sorts of museums, zoos, and meet lots of people. We school out on the patio by the pool, in parks, and campgrounds. I can't imagine a better job and it's unpaid!

I have a friend who develops websites for dietitians and loves her job. She has flexible hours, interesting clients, and gets to be creative for a living.

Glad to hear that all of you are on the road to better health. Y'all have had a tough year!

[Prudence Octavia]

Zombie germs........... LOLOLOLOL

[TJ]

Wow, y'all must have come up after me, because my mnemonic doesn't mention sex at all! King Philip Came Over For Green Stamps!

...wow, do I feel old...

[uberimma]

I'm a speechwriter. It's fun.

[Cathy]

I've had the flu twice already this season and sat in a room next to a woman coughing her lungs out at the Dr yesterday. I'm not holding out any hopes for a fluless November. I want to know just how mant types of flu there are floating around out there! I was told the one I caught in August was last years version! UGH, there is no way to win this game.

I am a retired school counselor and I LOVED it! I was always in tiny private schools, so every year I was elected to teach someting ever more bizarre.

[Carolyn]

Glad to hear that the house of Julia is getting healthier, though sometimes I find that having children who are recovering from an illness (more energy, still feeling just crummy enough to be cranky) is more exhausting than having children who are actively sick.

I have a job that I absolutely adore, and am pleased to see so many others who also love what they do. I'm a high school English teacher (Juniors and AP Lit and Comp) in a school less than half a mile from the US/Mexico border. I work with many kids whose parents never finished the sixth grade and speak no English, and while it can be incredibly difficult to "sell" Thoreau to a student who is still learning conversational English, the feeling of accomplishment I get when they really understand either the literature or how to write well is an amazing high. Seeing them accepted to college after helping them write their application essays is even better.

[Heather]

I am an elementary school librarian. BEST JOB EVER. I love it! Motivating kids to read and helping those avid readers find the perfect book is wonderful.

[Alexicographer]

I'm so glad to see you are posting this and that it's not, say, Steve posting to let us know that you are in the hospital on a respirator. Because I have heard stories. Yeah, so, white flag: good.

Your bit about the twins cracked me up; I love it when the authorities say not to share germs. Hahaha. Like I could really keep my 2 y.o. far enough away from me that he wouldn't catch what I have, or vice-versa. That's a good one.

[Kara]

To add to the virus knowledge: They aren't dead, because they do have living DNA (attenuated vaccines include the virus with weakened DNA and killed vaccines include the virus with destroyed DNA for the commenter who asked). As a few have said earlier, however, they rely on your cells to become their body.

Just had an exam over this stuff today.

[styleygeek]

I love my career, which is not the same as loving my job. I am a linguist, and for the past two years since finishing grad school, I have only had jobs for one semester at a time. These have varied between teaching (LOVE IT), research assistant work (BORING) and (BEST EVER EVER EVER) grant-funded research. The bit I just loved the fuck out of was a six week field trip to a tiny island (population 54) in the middle of the ocean (nearest inhabited place 300 miles away: only way to get there: 4-day hitch-hiking trip on a yacht). There I got to interview the locals, make recordings, run statistical analyses, and now I'm writing it up into a few papers.

Almost every day while I was there, I would stand on the dazzling white sand looking out at the turquoise lagoon full of tropical fish and think, "I am being paid to be here. This is my JOB."

Of course, on other days I would stand in the exact same place and stare out to see saying, "WHERE IS THE FUCKING BOAT??? OMG WILL I EVER GET HOME AGAIN?"

[VirtualSprite]

I love being a journalist when I can help people. I work for a hyper-local weekly paper that's part of a larger, daily paper, and 90 percent of the stories I do are about little victories in people's lives. The little girl who travels around and collects food for homeless people, the woman who's quilt took first in a state competition, the swimming team that improved from last to second in the conference.

These are little victories that most people don't get to hear about because they weren't the winners, but they bring hope and I think the world needs more hope.

Of course, sometimes the job totally sucks ass, but for every horrible story you have to do, you get to do something really fun.

[May]

Good to have you back. I'm waiting to see just how much fun it willbe when my three monsters get the dreaded whatnot.
I've got a job that makes me awestruck with how fortunate I am. I work for the Forest Service.

[NZ Sarah]

I can't say I love my job (although I adore my boss who lets me work whatever hours I want which is wonderful with 2 preschoolers and a husband who travels).

My husband does love his job though. He is a professional rugby referee. Not a job you find in the US! I guess it would be the equivalent of an American Football referee (umpire?).
We love it as a family too. He's home during the week with the kids - takes them to gym and swimming and all sorts of stuff he could never have done in his previous job. The downside is that he's away most weekends for at least 1 night. Not a big deal in the scheme of things.

[Mirandola]

I love my job? Not always, and not in all respects, but yes in the sense that it feels right.

I work on government policy, which means I get to think about problems and people and how things could go better and how to stop them getting worse. It's paid ok (though I'd get more in the private sector) and the working conditions are good and I like my colleagues, but most of all it's interesting and worthwhile. I am very very very lucky.

[Anne]

I'm a theater and film director and writer, currently focusing on film. I love it an awful lot, and I'm in grad school now, learning more and more about film. I say that I love it even after having one of the most horrible shooting days ever. And I think that I just got the horrible awful no good very bad flu.

[MsCellania]

Oh, our family has had the Hat Trick of Swine flu as well; Number One Son Felled by H1N1 (diagnosed nose swab, wait over a day for results BINGO - we got the prize!) with fevers, coughing, etc. Then up almost 5 days then WHAM - strep, with sinus infection for the bonus round. Introduce antibiotic #1. Back to school for 2 days after missing 8, and then oh no! Thumpers up, again. Back to pede for 4th time as now there's a nasty rash and lung involvement, but not pneumonia. Next round of antibiotics but luckily it's Friday so #1 goes back to school on Monday. A skinnier, sallow version of himself. Lovely.
Number Two Son spent 3 days with high fever off and on, some sinus issues and a scary lack of ability to move from the floor. Luckily, the dog felt the need to lay there with him and give sympathic quarter-hour licks. He missed trick or treating and didn't give a rat's ass, which scared me witless so I started shadowing the poor fellow, spooning him as he gazed glassy eyed at nothing.
I have a dream job. I volunteer at our school, and take it seriously. While our sons have been ill (a month), I've been unable to show up. Missing work for a month has made me realize how much I love it. A huge side benefit is that I see my children many times a day, along with all their friends. Also, I see where funding is really needed as I'm in the classrooms (all K-5, not just my sons') and I direct our family's PTO donations where they are most needed. And school is the one place people are actually excited to talk to you about your kids.

[Crystal]

Hey, I have a friend who went to nursing school and quit for her husband's career a year before finishing, was a SAHM for .... 6, 7 years? then became a divorced Mom..... (cough, asshat, new baby, affair, new wife, asshat, cough).

Since he didn't see fit to share his software engineer earnings with his ex and 3 children, her child support did not even pay the mortgage, and she had to return to work.

She became a sign language interpreter, with an emphasis on medical interpreting, which was a nice fit due to her background.

As you can imagine, there's a lot in her life which is pretty damn hard (although she has a new husband, who is fantastic). Of course the chaos of life isn't all joy and roses, but her job is so wonderful and fulfilling.... She just took the test to get a higher level certification, and wound up earning the highest certification level.

She absolutely loves her job, she's fantastic at it, and she's smart and funny. She'd make a great subject if you want me to put you in touch with her....

Good luck, heal soon, and take care.

[Emily]

I really love my job. I'm a special education teacher in Early Intervention Autistic Support. I have a great schedule (a stretch calendar which gives me a week off almost every month), but the best part is how rewarding it is to see the kids learn how to talk (or sign or match or play with other kids)! It just feels like my time is well spent, everything we teach is practical and really improves the lives of our kids and their families. I have a one-on-one classroom, so I'm almost more of a manager than "teacher" and the paperwork is mountainous but overall I LOVE it. I had a really shitty job for years so even when I'm overwhelmed or stressed I have to check myself.

When I tell people what I do they always say "Oh, that must be SO hard!". It is very complicated and takes a lot of collaboration, but it was much harder to get up and go to a place where I watched the clock all day and secretly read magazines behind my computer, doing no good for anyone.

The kids are so adorable. I laugh all day long. It is meaningful work. It's everything I could ask for.

[Robyn]

I, too, love my job, although the fact that I've only been at this particular job four months may still count me in the honeymoon phase. I'm in charge of publications for the marketing department of a small private college in Upstate NY. I love the work I do (editing the alumni magazine, among other things), the people I work with, the wonderful suburban campus. After four years of freelancing, I like getting regular feedback again, as well as having a regular paycheck and health insurance (things one doesn't necessarily think about with jobs but which I've been especially aware of and grateful for lately). I'm good at being an editor, and I'm very lucky to have the chance to do it for a living.

[Elizabeth]

I love my job. Granted, it's just started, but seriously...I have no right to have this awesome a job.

What makes me love it? Every day is different. I get to work in a really awesome environment with great people who are very helpful/understanding. But more than anything else - it's INTERESTING. I need to be challenged, or I get super bored, and this job is always pushing me to do better and more etc.

[Teressa Underwood]

A friend pointed me to your blog, I'm glad she did! I absolutely LOVE my job. I'm a SAHM mom to 4 kids with crazy schedules, but I'm also a Pure Romance consultant. I do in-home parties for adult women with intimacy products. It's classy, educational, and fun. It's incredibly rewarding when I can help women with the problems they don't even feel comfortable talking to their spouses or doctors about. And often, the things I suggest are just what is needed to spice up relationships!