Happy Valentine's Day

Today is Febuary 14, 2015. Wow! Where has time gone? Since my last post, I have become disabled, relocated AGAIN, and tried to adjust to life as a woman who cannot work. It's really hard for me.

I've had a job of some sort since I was 15 years old. At 18, I started working for Fortune 50 companies, eventually going into management and staying there for 15 years. I have managed more people than I ever want to admit to, and fired a few, too. I'm not going to say I loved working because I didn't. I never really felt like I had a career, I felt that I was working in order to have money. All of my jobs paid well and allowed me to have a very good lifestyle. I have traveled a lot and gotten to do things that most people only dream of. In 2011, I gave birth to my only son. When he was 4 months old, I took a job with the worlds largest online retailer and had to leave him for two months. Although I was home every weekend. I still regret leaving him at such an early age. In 2014, after almost a year of me being suspicious (and being told by the pediatrician that I was wrong) my son was diagnosed with Autism. It broke my heart that I had a job that required me to be away from him most of the waking hours of the day.

I have suffered most of my adult life with a little known disease called Hidradenitis Suppurativa. This disease causes my body to strange things. In 2013, it started to become apparent to me that my body was not liking the lifestyle I was living and that I better look for another like of work. In early 2014, the planets aligned and my health started to fail at precisely the same time my boss decided he wanted to change my assignment and put me on midnights. I eventually became legally disabled and had to leave my job, which brings me to where I am now.

I now get to sit home all day with a Master's degree! All of those student loans and years in school mean nothing now. What does bring me joy is the fact that I can spend more time tending to the needs of my son. All the time I missed with him has now been given back to me and for that, I a forever grateful. There are days when I feel like a useless bump because I can't get out there and be a productive part of society anymore, then I look at him and I am reminded that I am being useful. I am teaching my son more than I ever could have while I was working. I am teaching him about love and about the importance of family.

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