Why I work 2 jobs
I work two jobs, but my husband makes more than me. He has always made more than me. One of the reasons I married him (in addition to the grand love I have for him) is I knew he would provide for our family. Does that sound traditional? Maybe it is. Before I married him, I dated an attorney. But he wasn't a litigation attorney; he was one of those work-for-legal-aid-type attorneys. That was admirable. But that was the type of non-profit work I do and I knew it wouldn't provide for a family.
And for me it's important that I am in a family that provides for the family.
While I didn't marry the work for legal aid- attorney I've wanted to be the kind of family he came from. His family sent their children to boarding school, France, and prestigious private colleges. And in doing so he had the choice to become a work-for-legal-aid-type attorney.
My family wasn't like that. My family sent me to my grandparents in the summer and public school in the winter. On spring break, I stayed home. Until I turned 18, I had been out of the state three times--once to San Benito, TX, where my grandparents snowbirded, across the Missouri River to Nebraska. and south to Missouri. I was three when I made my Texas adventure and any memory of the trip is based on what my mother tells me occurred. My trip to Nebraska was a driving foray from Iowa's Lewis and Clark State Park and across the state border to say we had been to another state and then back to the Iowa side. Missouri, was, well, a trip to rural Missouri to visit my mother's friend who lived on a farm nowhere near any of the cities Missouri is known for.
By the time my oldest son had turned five, he had traveled to more states in more airplanes than I had in the first 25 years of my life. And that's just great.
For three summers he's traveled to Maine for a Chinese language immersion camp. He's able to do this because I work two jobs and my husband makes more than me. Before he's 18, he won't go to France, but it's highly probable he will go to China. If he wants to be a high school foreign exchange student to anywhere, I'll work three jobs to help him get there if it's necessary.
My family--four generations previous--left their small German villages to make a better life for me and all of their descendants. The three generations in between have stayed so firmly planted in the same general location that it's hard to believe we have any immigrants in our background. But we do and while it has lain dormant for many years, this desire to better ourselves regardless where it takes us has reawakened within me and my children.
I don't know how my ancestors saved up the money to make the long trip from Germany to the Americas, but I'd like to think it's because one of them worked two jobs.
And for me it's important that I am in a family that provides for the family.
While I didn't marry the work for legal aid- attorney I've wanted to be the kind of family he came from. His family sent their children to boarding school, France, and prestigious private colleges. And in doing so he had the choice to become a work-for-legal-aid-type attorney.
My family wasn't like that. My family sent me to my grandparents in the summer and public school in the winter. On spring break, I stayed home. Until I turned 18, I had been out of the state three times--once to San Benito, TX, where my grandparents snowbirded, across the Missouri River to Nebraska. and south to Missouri. I was three when I made my Texas adventure and any memory of the trip is based on what my mother tells me occurred. My trip to Nebraska was a driving foray from Iowa's Lewis and Clark State Park and across the state border to say we had been to another state and then back to the Iowa side. Missouri, was, well, a trip to rural Missouri to visit my mother's friend who lived on a farm nowhere near any of the cities Missouri is known for.
By the time my oldest son had turned five, he had traveled to more states in more airplanes than I had in the first 25 years of my life. And that's just great.
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| Leaving a homeland is sometimes a lonely venture and one that requires great financial investment. |
My family--four generations previous--left their small German villages to make a better life for me and all of their descendants. The three generations in between have stayed so firmly planted in the same general location that it's hard to believe we have any immigrants in our background. But we do and while it has lain dormant for many years, this desire to better ourselves regardless where it takes us has reawakened within me and my children.
I don't know how my ancestors saved up the money to make the long trip from Germany to the Americas, but I'd like to think it's because one of them worked two jobs.
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