I start most Monday mornings working away from home but this week got shuffled a little and I"m sitting in my office today getting some much needed work done. The sky is blue and there are hints of Fall in the air. In the south this only means crusty brown leaves are falling from the trees and the temperature may only reach the mid 70s today but I will take it.
Most of my adult life I've worked, sometime working two jobs. I worked in the service industry with a Jazzercise franchise for 25 years. Now I work a job from home. Working from home is a much misunderstood position.. some see it as no work at all while others question the legitimacy of it being a way to actually earn money. Still others embrace it .. I am one of those "embracers" and I love our company, esbe designs by Sara Blaine.[Here's my web address if you want to check it out. http://www.esbedesigns.com/ShopLeisa
Observation #1, I've been given a great opportunity and I'm quite thankful for it. It allows me to earn and be home when it's required. I get to choose when and how much I work. I think that may be another blog post.
I grew up with parents of the depression as did many of my peers. Being a child of the depression brought with it a strong desire to be self-sufficient, not only for daddy but mama as well.
We never heard the word "can't" in our home. When something difficult or life altering happened, as it often does, the only thing I heard from mama and daddy was "we will figure this out."
What makes this significant is the time I grew up in, the sixties and early seventies. Women weren't always valued in the way men were. My mama left the work force as a young wife to have her children. Mama didn't sit much, always busy, always moving, always on to the next project or task.
She worked for the dept of revenue during "tag season" for extra Christmas money.
[For those too young to remember, car tags were always purchased in the Fall, therefore the Dept. of Revenue always needed temps in September to handle the onslaught.] Getting a taste of the working world again after having three children, must have lit a fire in her because by the time I was 10 years old mama had decided to go back to work, full time. Her skills were already sharp from the seasonal work and she applied and went to The Revenue dept in Birmingham first. Later she moved to Bessemer where she remained until retirement. My mother had some mad office skills, typing 140 words a minute while casually telling you about her afternoon. Sadly, I did not inherit her complete set of office skills. Observation #2, Self-esteem was high in a home where you were encouraged to be passionate and be willing to do the work. No matter what work it is, do it well.
As a child, daddy was always trying to find things to occupy me (I can't imagine why) He worked at Hayes International designing and building airplanes. His crew built the giant arms that held the Gemini crafts too, precursors to the Apollo flights. All I knew was he came home with some massive pieces of cardboard hanging out of the back of his truck. Down below the old oak tree that held our rope swing was a small stand of pines, seasonally leaving their needles covering the ground. Every Fall once the trees dropped their needles we hit the hillside armed with those monster pieces of cardboard. We would spend a fabulous and exhausted day sliding down the hill.
Observation #3 Why did my mother allow this to happen? Was she not concerned I would be hurt? There were no helmets, knee pads or protective clothing. I believe I'm more than a little miffed she wasn't more concerned. When you hit the bank of blackberry bushes and underbrush going into the woods, you stopped. Amazing, considering we can't let our children ride a bike today without covering them head-to-toe in bubble wrap.
I was about nine when we had an unusually warm December, it was 80 degrees outside. We slid down that hill all day long on Christmas Eve, from morning until it was almost dark. Finally, daddy had to come carry me up the hill to the house as my legs no longer worked.
Observation #4, Do children play until exhaustion outside these days? Do they get free play time? Or are they scheduled like adults?
During the summer months my brothers both worked when they were old enough.. My oldest brother was running a roofing crew at age 15, long before he could even drive. He had to be dropped off on the job by mama or daddy or another adult drove him around. My other brother a year younger worked alongside him.
When I was in the 8th grade someone said something to me at school about our being poor. ?? What?
I went straight to daddy and his response in between laughter was "Is there anything you need, baby? Why are you letting this girl determine who you are?" Well, that was the end of the discussion and although that young lady later became a friend, I never gave her statement credence again.
If you asked either of my brothers or myself what kind of childhood we had, we would all say "wonderful." We never went without a meal although, there were many nights of beans and cornbread. Our family gardened, daddy raised hogs and we shared with extended family as they did with us. Our Uncle Lattie had chickens, so there were always fresh eggs. He had fruit trees and mama made perserves. Another Uncle had cattle and he shared his beef with us, daddy shared his homemade sausage, bacon and pork shoulders he cured in the old smoke house out back. Our clothing was mended and we kept wearing it until we were pushing out the trouser legs and shirt sleeves. Our first playmates and friends were cousins and there were many of them. Sunday afternoons with a zillion kids running all around my mamaws little house. That's what I remember.
Final Observation, We were very blessed to grow up in that time and place. It taught me if I desire something then go get it and my family always has my back.
No one owes you anything in life and no, not everyone is going to like you. Yes, by some standards we may have been poor but it sure didn't feel like it. It takes very little to make me happy these days which brings me to my original point.
Children thrive in plainness. Simplicity. Doesn't that sound better then over-scheduled, run-from-one-place-to-another living? Put down your smart phone, Instagram will wait. Your child will not. Let that soak in, your child will NOT wait. You will look up one day, like I have and your oldest is forty-two. I remember those days of reading, playing, talking and laughing. Things were simple then and I'm so glad I didn't miss it.
Most of my adult life I've worked, sometime working two jobs. I worked in the service industry with a Jazzercise franchise for 25 years. Now I work a job from home. Working from home is a much misunderstood position.. some see it as no work at all while others question the legitimacy of it being a way to actually earn money. Still others embrace it .. I am one of those "embracers" and I love our company, esbe designs by Sara Blaine.[Here's my web address if you want to check it out. http://www.esbedesigns.com/ShopLeisa
Observation #1, I've been given a great opportunity and I'm quite thankful for it. It allows me to earn and be home when it's required. I get to choose when and how much I work. I think that may be another blog post.
I grew up with parents of the depression as did many of my peers. Being a child of the depression brought with it a strong desire to be self-sufficient, not only for daddy but mama as well.
We never heard the word "can't" in our home. When something difficult or life altering happened, as it often does, the only thing I heard from mama and daddy was "we will figure this out."
What makes this significant is the time I grew up in, the sixties and early seventies. Women weren't always valued in the way men were. My mama left the work force as a young wife to have her children. Mama didn't sit much, always busy, always moving, always on to the next project or task.
She worked for the dept of revenue during "tag season" for extra Christmas money.
[For those too young to remember, car tags were always purchased in the Fall, therefore the Dept. of Revenue always needed temps in September to handle the onslaught.] Getting a taste of the working world again after having three children, must have lit a fire in her because by the time I was 10 years old mama had decided to go back to work, full time. Her skills were already sharp from the seasonal work and she applied and went to The Revenue dept in Birmingham first. Later she moved to Bessemer where she remained until retirement. My mother had some mad office skills, typing 140 words a minute while casually telling you about her afternoon. Sadly, I did not inherit her complete set of office skills. Observation #2, Self-esteem was high in a home where you were encouraged to be passionate and be willing to do the work. No matter what work it is, do it well.
As a child, daddy was always trying to find things to occupy me (I can't imagine why) He worked at Hayes International designing and building airplanes. His crew built the giant arms that held the Gemini crafts too, precursors to the Apollo flights. All I knew was he came home with some massive pieces of cardboard hanging out of the back of his truck. Down below the old oak tree that held our rope swing was a small stand of pines, seasonally leaving their needles covering the ground. Every Fall once the trees dropped their needles we hit the hillside armed with those monster pieces of cardboard. We would spend a fabulous and exhausted day sliding down the hill.
Observation #3 Why did my mother allow this to happen? Was she not concerned I would be hurt? There were no helmets, knee pads or protective clothing. I believe I'm more than a little miffed she wasn't more concerned. When you hit the bank of blackberry bushes and underbrush going into the woods, you stopped. Amazing, considering we can't let our children ride a bike today without covering them head-to-toe in bubble wrap.
I was about nine when we had an unusually warm December, it was 80 degrees outside. We slid down that hill all day long on Christmas Eve, from morning until it was almost dark. Finally, daddy had to come carry me up the hill to the house as my legs no longer worked.
Observation #4, Do children play until exhaustion outside these days? Do they get free play time? Or are they scheduled like adults?
During the summer months my brothers both worked when they were old enough.. My oldest brother was running a roofing crew at age 15, long before he could even drive. He had to be dropped off on the job by mama or daddy or another adult drove him around. My other brother a year younger worked alongside him.
When I was in the 8th grade someone said something to me at school about our being poor. ?? What?
I went straight to daddy and his response in between laughter was "Is there anything you need, baby? Why are you letting this girl determine who you are?" Well, that was the end of the discussion and although that young lady later became a friend, I never gave her statement credence again.
If you asked either of my brothers or myself what kind of childhood we had, we would all say "wonderful." We never went without a meal although, there were many nights of beans and cornbread. Our family gardened, daddy raised hogs and we shared with extended family as they did with us. Our Uncle Lattie had chickens, so there were always fresh eggs. He had fruit trees and mama made perserves. Another Uncle had cattle and he shared his beef with us, daddy shared his homemade sausage, bacon and pork shoulders he cured in the old smoke house out back. Our clothing was mended and we kept wearing it until we were pushing out the trouser legs and shirt sleeves. Our first playmates and friends were cousins and there were many of them. Sunday afternoons with a zillion kids running all around my mamaws little house. That's what I remember.
Final Observation, We were very blessed to grow up in that time and place. It taught me if I desire something then go get it and my family always has my back.
No one owes you anything in life and no, not everyone is going to like you. Yes, by some standards we may have been poor but it sure didn't feel like it. It takes very little to make me happy these days which brings me to my original point.
Children thrive in plainness. Simplicity. Doesn't that sound better then over-scheduled, run-from-one-place-to-another living? Put down your smart phone, Instagram will wait. Your child will not. Let that soak in, your child will NOT wait. You will look up one day, like I have and your oldest is forty-two. I remember those days of reading, playing, talking and laughing. Things were simple then and I'm so glad I didn't miss it.
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