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I started working at age 10, babysitting my neighbors 4 kids after school, then maid jobs weekends and vacation days for years after that. I never stopped working until my first child was born. I did have fun at some of those early jobs. When I worked for a wealthy neighbor, as nanny for their 4 children (different from the other family with 4 kids) I washed clothes, ironed them, changed and made beds, made breakfast and lunch for them, and then every afternoon from 1-3 we watched old movies together on tv. After that we would go swimming in their lake from 3-5, before me cooking supper for the whole family. (It’s where I learned to make pies!) Another fun job was working for a professional photographer, who took the portraits for the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. I got to meet many famous actors there, one who is the current grandfather on the tv show Blue Bloods. The photographer also followed me at my high school graduation, taking all kinds of pictures, and then using them in dozens of stories his wife wrote for magazines. A third fun job was working at AT&T in the summer before college. I was hired to be a file clerk, but when I had finished with all the filing after the first hour, they decided to teach me how to do drafting. I spent the summer drafting maps for telephone wires and poles. I was trained to be a teacher, but I hated it. I loved teaching, I just didn’t know how to discipline. I thought kids would just respond to me if I was excited about a subject. That didn’t work, for many reasons. I did like being a preschool teacher and director, however, because I sang with them (with my guitar) and set up little plays for them, such as the 3 Billy Goats Gruff. But when I became a psychotherapist, I truly loved my job (my profession.) I enjoyed every person, especially if I could help them in any way. I was even able to incorporate my love of poetry in my counseling. The best thing about that job was that I could give seminars and talks about therapy and how I used poetry in it. How lucky I was to be able to use all my gifts in the service of others. But I also have to say that I didn’t make much money at it, because I had mostly clients at the bottom of the sliding fee scale. I was lucky to be able to do it as a calling and not as a living. --Cynthia
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January 2022
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