Me

Here's a little background about me. I'm a divorced single parent of a wonderful son, who will be turning 11 this week. What an amazing age! He truly is a gift from God, my miracle! He also may be living proof that maybe I have done something right amidst what seems like uncertainty.

I work full-time as...well that's hard to say as my job title has stayed the same over the past decade but the job description and responsibilities seem to change. Once I truly believed I was a social worker. As time passes, it seems like social is the farthest thing from my job. In rare occasions, when I am able to do social work - I realize why I became a social worker and relish in those moments that more and more frequently seem so few and far between. In December, I was "picked" for whatever reason - as I'm sure there could be many: skill, talent, expendability, knowledge, desire to name a few - to work 92 miles away from my local office to "test" a new pilot program for a 3-month duration. While not entirely thrilled about the project, the idea of what my job would become if I didn't go didn't seem that appealing either. After 7 years in the current office, I was due for a change and thought this was definitely an opportunity for that! Needless to say commuting this winter wasn't always fun! I've managed to work the schedule around my son so that's worked well - although staying in a hotel on nights he's with his dad has helped with the long commute - even if only one day a week. The three months was complete at the end of February and well the testing isn't. The pilot roll-out has been delayed to June or August - yep, guess July just wasn't a good month :) So 3-months could quickly be a year before I know it. I'm trying to look at the positives of this temporary position but the bottom-line is that it isn't financially beneficial for the employer to have me there, especially when the program isn't working. So needless to say, the job is frustrating at best, as an A-personality I have little patience with incompetence whether in a program or a person and busy work isn't for me!

I do have to admit that this project has enlightened me to all those that commute and drive for a living. It isn't for me. I find on the weekends that I would prefer to now not leave the house. A day of not driving anywhere seems like endless bliss :) For the first 3.5 years of my job I commuted 35 minutes each way. I switched offices to be closer to home and I live 5 minutes away. The convenience of everything minutes away is precious. The other day I was talking to a CSR at the bank about Mutual Funds and IRA's and he wanted to discuss it in person. I couldn't. I couldn't believe how sad that was that I couldn't schedule an appointment. He even offered a weekend - but I'm not dragging my son with me - that's my time with him! Not a single day that I could schedule a time for an hour meeting while commuting. If it can't be done via email or phone, right now I just can't do it! I can't find the time for those extra, non-critical issues that before wouldn't have been a big deal. Even shopping and errands are more difficult to fit in. I did manage to start shopping for my vacation tonight - which turned into an all night affair and a boycot of going into the local office to work there too. Oh yeah, on the side I'm suppose to still manage my local job casework - which I average about 5 hours per week - yeah as you can imagine that works well! :) But at least it won't be a complete nightmare if and when I ever do return to it full-time!