Musings of a Lucky Woman

I'm a lucky woman. Jack has over the past 35 years tolerated (and financed) most of the whims that I've had without grumbling (much). And I've probably had more than the average share of whims. You could say that I've been a jill-of-all-trades.

I was a real estate agent for a few years. Loved real estate when I first started in the profession UNTIL I began actually getting clients and listings. We had recently moved to Kansas and our youngest daughter was about seven years old. I thought that if I went into real estate I'd be able to be spend more time with the family. HA! Not so. Poor old Jack cooked Sunday dinner almost every Sunday while I was holding open houses. We ate a LOT of pot roast. Luckily, he turned out a top notch pot roast.

There was the time we booked a family vacation at Hilton Head Island. By the time we were ready to leave on our trip, I had two deals going. My broker said, "No problem - I'll wrap them up for you. You go ahead and have a good time." I came home and both sales had fallen through!

Then, within a very short period of time, I had a buyer and a seller who were impossible to satisfy. The seller was a neighbor. Need I say more? After one particularly stressful session with a very difficult buyer who was, to put it mildly, a real JERK, I told Jack that I'd either have to get out of real estate or he'd have to lock me up!!! I'm sure there have been times when he thinks locking me up would have been the right choice...

I worked for four different federal government agencies over a period of about ten years. Then I owned a secretarial service in one state that evolved into a free-lance business when Jack's career moved us to another state. After he retired we purchased a small concessions business (franchise) that was lots of fun and quite profitable.

I'm also a certified graphoanalyst. I spent two years studying graphology or handwriting analysis. I just gobbled up the lessons and passed the course with flying colors. What really interested me was the prospect of learning how to determine personality and behaviour by analyzing handwriting. It's a useful tool used by many businesses for employment selection. The courts frequently employ handwriting analysts to study ransom notes, altered records, forgeries, and disputed legal documents. I really, really wanted to be a graphoanalyst.

But it was while I was taking my final exam that I realized how invasive the field is. It can take eight hours or more to analyze a couple of paragraphs of handwriting. I was analyzing a sample of handwriting from somebody I knew and was really startled by some of the traits that I was uncovering. That analysis haunted me for several weeks when I decided that I just couldn't look into people's souls like that.

Let's see, what else have I done...well, I've raised four children (with Jack, of course) - my proudest accomplishment.

I’ve studied interior design. I’ve been an Accredited Staging Professional, staging homes to prepare them for resale. That was a great course. I actually thought I'd found my niche. I would be staging homes now except that we travel often and it's difficult to establish a business like staging if you're not around to do the actual staging!! At least I'll be able to stage our own home when/if we ever decide to sell.

I’ve bought and sold antiques and collectibles on EBAY and in an antique mall. THAT was great fun but not as lucrative as I would have liked. I could wander through antique malls, resale shops and junk shops every day. It drives Jack up the wall. Not his idea of a good time.

So here I am off on another search for my identity. It's just that I can’t imagine a life without something creative to do. I guess you could say that I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up!

Yep, I'm a very lucky woman.