Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes...turn and face the strange....
Oh, I am facing the strange head-on. Many of you that regularly read my blog know that we lost my dad suddenly two weeks ago as well as one of Trevor's closest college friends. Our house has been turned upside down since all of this happened. Almost literally upside down. Anyone who has been through this knows what I am talking about. I also wanted to say thank you for the outpouring of love and support through all of this. Our family is so blessed to have so many people around us who provided us with meals, kind words, cards, flowers, thoughts, and prayers. All of these blessings have helped us begin to heal. Turning to face the strange..CH-CH-CH-CHanges. However, change and loss is no stranger to our family. We have to put on our big girl panties and continue to trudge forward. Through tears and chocolates, onward we will go. Just as time moves forward, so must we.
No time like the present to share with you, all of the job changes and careers I have experienced in my 45, yes 45 NOT 46, years on the third rock from the sun. I began my first work career on construction job sites. I don't recall my exact age, my guess would be 7. My parents owned a roofing company, Roof Right Roofing, it was the epitome of a family-owned business. My father and his brother started the business from the ground up. Back then OSHA was a thing, but not the safety conglomerate it is today. If it would have been around hot and heavy in 1982. I would have been out of a job at age 7. I would ride along with my dad to job sites, He would drive a huge 18 wheeler carrying a monster Pettibone to lift materials onto the roofs of new construction homes. Although my dad owned the company, each day he worked side by side with his employees.
I was always looking for ways to make a penny. Well, he found some, he told me he would give me a penny for each nail I picked up from the homes under construction. While he met with builders, checked on employees, and worked along with them. I scurried around and gathered thousands and thousands of nails. I made lots of pretty pennies that summer. I was also a budding artist and when I would get stuck in the office with my mom. Which by the way, I HATED the office, it was so dull and boring compared to the busy, most likely dangerous, job sites. In the office, I had to sit and be quiet and work quietly. Those of you that know me, understand just how difficult it is for me to be quiet and just sit in general. Back then of course we did not have tablets or phones, to pass the time. There wasn't a TV in the office. Never would my mom have dreamt of keeping me entertained. Us kids of the 70s had to learn to occupy ourselves. Many of us had moms that worked and we needed to figure out how to go with the flow, as I did...making money. When I had to be in the office, I would draw pictures and sell them to the employees. The office ladies got tired of purchasing my repetitive drawings. Unfortunately, I did not have a wide range of artwork. Not to mention they were tired of handing over money to me.
Roof Right was a two-story building. On the second floor was the main office with the office staff, which included my mom. The main level housed the field employees; my dad and uncles along with all the roofers, insulators, and laborers. Anyone who has worked or been around construction and contractors can understand how dirty this job is. Literally filthy! I understand first hand that saying..."Those clothes are so dirty, they can stand up and walk away." When you have that much sweat and dirt in clothes they become stiff and just plain gross. That was these men, my dad probably being one of the dirtiest. I can remember my parents going out for a nice dinner or event and my dad never being able to wash the work from his hands. They were clean, but they were working hands.
After the office ladies, including my mom tired of my endless drawings. They sent me downstairs to sell those crappy little pictures of rainbows and smiley-faced men in suits, to the sweaty, gruff workers. However, I had to wait for the guys to come back from the field. I'm not going to lie, looking back, some of these men were terrifying. However, I was never scared. I remember so vividly sitting up in the office knowing what time each crew would come in, to return their trucks, reload for the next day, and turn in time cards. When they would roll their trucks into the yard, I would bound down the stairs, from the upstairs office of clean pastel mauves, each stair getting dirtier as I descended to the main floor of dusty browns. As I approached the door leading to the main office, I would often hold my breath. It was so grimy and the smells of working men would hit me like a wall, that even if I lost track and forgot to hold my breath. The pungent smell would take my breath away.
I would wheel and deal, just to sell one drawing. These men were not like the office ladies. They would not just roll over and hand me a buck. They would negotiate cost and barter with me. Eventually, I realized I wasn't making any real substantial amounts of money, so when our new neighbor knocked on the door and asked me to babysit in 1985, I jumped at the chance to make fat cash...and did just that.
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes...and ch-ch-ch-ching for a 10-year-old kid. Word traveled fast on Hobart Avenue, soon enough, any time I wasn't playing sports, I was babysitting all of the kids living on our dead-end block. Five out of eleven houses had kids. I babysat for all five of those houses. Time continued on and I spent all of my free time babysitting. Thus began my career in child care-giving. However, getting from point A of where I was in 1985 to where I ended up at point B in 2015 as a special education paraprofessional brought so many changes and careers. Each and every one of my experiences brought about so much wealth. Maybe not monetary advancement to our checking account, but more insight and opportunities than any amount of job could have fiscally provided.
I am happy so many of you have joined me on this journey. Already so many unforeseen things have happened to challenge me and put me to the test. Taunting me to give up and quit. However, I would like to see this through. I believe kb FAWN has some potential to not only support kids with special needs but to provide a small source of income for my family. I am still working on inventory for my Etsy storefront and working on making sure I have everything in line. My original date to open the storefront was planned for August 1st. However, under the circumstances, I have to delay the opening. I look forward to sharing more stories with you about the various careers and jobs I have had. It is fun to revisit each step. Not to mention give all of you insight as to how I went from picking up nails and drawing pictures, as a child, to the Billionaire's Blog and wanting to start the kb FAWN Foundation.
A little thing I learned all those years ago picking up nails and selling my drawings. Fear will limit you and judgment will haunt you. I still tap into that fearless, unruly child from time to time. The things my parents taught me as a child without even realizing what they were doing. Work hard, see people for who they are on the inside, outside appearances can be deceiving, words and banter means nothing, it's who we are and what we think on the inside that makes the changes in this world. So as time may change me and I can't trace time. I can hold onto the memories and share those experiences with others. Hoping together we can embrace changes and be richer for that.
Enjoy a little David Bowie today, an icon from the 70's.
Comments
Post a Comment