MyLife-When I Got A Paycheck

With my husband's support, I have been a stay at home Mom for 9 years. My eldest will be turning 10 next month, so you can see that for most of her life, she's had the quantity time as well as the quality time. During that almost decade, however, I have earned a paycheck twice, for 2 months each time.

The first time was for American Promotions, Inc.. American Promotions is an advertising specialties company. That means they sell and have logoed any product you can imagine. Most companies want mugs or pens or t-shirts. Think about how many times you opened an account at a bank or attended a conference--most of the freebies were one of those three, right? Well, that is what most companies seemed to want. But if a company wanted a product outside the box, well, AP had six filing cabinets with catalogs from companies who did far more than mugs.

One of my favorite products was a zippable coconut. It was a real coconut, with a zipper around the middle that you could open and shut and thus use the inside as a container. Who would ever throw that away! And that is, of course the whole point of advertising specialties--for a company to keep its name in front of you so when you want what they sell, you'll think of them first. Of course, a coconut might not be thrown away, but people won't wear it, write with it or drink with it (well, maybe that last one is possible). And that's why pens, mugs and t-shirts remain such a popular choice. Because they get used (and keep the company name in front of customer's faces). I still like the zippered coconut though. I would keep my jewelry in it!

My husband, Theron, was the President of American Promotions, and needed my skills temporarily, so I obliged. I enjoyed it, knowing it was temporary, and then returned back home ready to work where my heart is, even if it's without a paycheck.

The second job I had in the last 9 years was for two months as a legislative aide to my Oregon State Representative, Dennis Richardson. He's also my dad, and so, knowing it was temporary, I bridged his gap between aides.

I loved it. Not everyone would like to be a Number Two guy--but I do. I liked organizing his office, scheduling his day, and anticipating his needs. I liked having him ask me about a paper, and knowing right where it was. I liked having him call me en route to a meeting and asking for the best route to get there. Maybe because I like controlling and organizing things, and his office stayed in control and organized far better than a household with five children. Or maybe because I like making a difference, and Representative Richardson's work made a visible difference in people's lives. I had never before met a politician so concerned with answering constituent's problems--and actually finding answers, not just commiserating.

Ironically though, my current and constant "job" of the last 9 years has been making a huge difference in people's lives. Particularly the lives of one man and (now) five children. I cannot control or organize as consistently as I can in an office. But I make more of a difference in those six people's lives than any person can in any other job. So, after a great two months with Rep. Richardson, I again left paid work for the unpaid kind (thanks to the support of my husband).

Are you making the same choices? Why or why not?