I had my first job as a file clerk at my (dad's) cousin's insurance company at 15 and have not stopped working since. I worked very hard to get out of service industry/data entry type stuff, and I'm really proud of where I am, and yet? I've also been really lucky too. I had a good friend ask me to move in with him in the big city. Later, I married him, so I didn't have to do school, work, pay bills all by myself. His job, because of the generosity of his employers has taken us to Vegas, helped us get cars, given us nice things we probably couldn't afford on our own. When the job market was really shitty, I had friends who needed secretarial/admin work so that we weren't out of money, and recently when I was looking to leave non-profit (which, as thankless as it could be sometimes, I'm really glad I did it and at the time I did it) I had friends who were recruiters in the field I wanted back into.

Had everything not fit just right, I have no idea where I'd be right now.

Hey folks. I'm back on dry land but still in Orlando. I've got what is hopefully an important meeting with a vice president for Nick Resorts in an hour.

So, you have a doppleganger in LA. Who sings.

Whoa! hey...I wonder if she is hogging all the glamorous parts of our lives!

but the best news is that the doctor was wrong. NO CANCER. Chronic thyroiditis.

Hooray, whoo-hoo, and huzzah for NO CANCER!!!

Aimee - that is fantastic news!

lisah, she said she's also a model, so yeah.

Let's see - I started working at age 7. Maybe an hour or two a day doing chores while my dad milked the cows. Later it became two or three hours a day seven days a week (plus I had to do chores in the mornings when I didn't have school). Plus fieldwork in the summer (driving a tractor or swather). I didn't start getting regular summer jobs (outside the farm) until the summer after I graduated high school. Oh, and my first Christmas break (which was 5 weeks) I worked on the farm too.

Just the other day I was thinking about when I was about 14, I sprained my knee. The doctor told me to stay off my feet for a week, but my dad made me work anyway. I hadn't thought about that in ages, and I find that memory difficult to reconcile with my current impression of my dad.

she said she's also a model, so yeah.

Damn her! I'm guessing she got all the height and none of the chubby!

(although, technically, I have modeled. I was Miss August in Hampden Hotties calendar my friend did for her store a few years back and I was modeled the Best 5-Minute Beehive model in Baltimore Magazine when my hair lady got that award.)

YAY NO CANCER!!!!

I'm so happy, Aimee!

Good luck at your meeting, sweetie! I can't wait to hear how it goes.

Aims, I'm so happy to hear the news about sis.