The Plan

Obviously, money was, and still can be an issue; working two jobs when there are young children at home is difficult. I have jumped through a lot of hoops over the years, the last being making a choice to leave the country home we loved and moving to a nearby town, which cut down drastically on the 24 mile round trip drive to school events. This in turn freed up valuable time for the second job, which became full time in the last year. The move to a full time position with benefits (or at least better benefits than I had while working at school) was not easy and required a plan. First I found a position I enjoyed, and after being hired, took advantage of all training opportunities. Second, and this is the difficult part-waiting. As soon as a full time opportunity arose, I applied. I didn't get hired the first time, but 8 months later, I struck gold. I had to work 2 jobs for 18 months to make it happen. I doubled my salary, have a somewhat flexible schedule and great benefits. Now I am working on the plan for promotion, hopefully it won't take 18 months.

You Want to do What??

Returning to college to finish a degree while parenting and maintaining a career can be a daunting task. I was very lucky to find a wonderful program geared toward working adults. The low-residency requirements meant I could fit my studies in with work and parenting. The faculty was wonderful, I will forever be indebted to them for nurturing creativity and inquiry.

The Journey Begins

Somehow I managed to scrape by for a couple years by being creative in thinking about daycare and the bigger picture. Working at the children's school meant I didn't need to pay for daycare and I was home with them during vacations as well. I worked a second job the weekends they were with their father. We fared better than other families faced with the same situation.

This schedule allowed me to breathe and plan the next step-finishing my BA.

The Catalyst

Almost 10 years ago I woke up one morning to find I was a single parent with 4 young children to raise. Having stepped off the career ladder years before, I knew I would have to make my own way once again, an overwhelming thought at the time. Today I can say life is good. The details of the months and years prior to that moment are irrelevant, it's the journey since that is important.