"It is never too late to be what you might have been." -George Eliot

When I left Carleton at the end of April I was mentally and physically exhausted. I was full of anger and sadness. I was broken.  I need to find myself again and let go.

So now four months later I feel so much better. I did a lot of sleeping in, relaxing and just being with myself. I stayed up late and slept until 9:00 every morning. Then I would get up and have my coffee and maybe by 11:00 I would shower and get dressed and go on with my day. It was great. It was what I needed to decompress and find me again.

A week after I left Carleton I started working as a on-call person at ICAN in Waseca. They are a great small company that has group homes for disabled people and they help in supporting them in their daily lives.  I would work two or three shifts a week.  I loved the work. I really enjoyed working with and getting to know the people in the home I worked at. It was so good to work with people that appreciated you and knowing that I was helping to make there lives better. The bad part was it was working evenings and weekends again.  Even if it was only a couple shifts a week and I loved the work I always kept my eyes open for something else because I knew I did not want to work evenings. Really I did not want to work at all but if I wanted to have some spending money I knew I need to work part time somewhere for the next 5 years when I could really retire for good.

So tomorrow that something else is going to start. I was hired by the Waseca School District as a Paraprofessional working in the high school with special needs kids. I am very excited. I have said for years that it is a job that I wanted to try.  After 26 years I will no longer have to work weekends, night, rotating shifts, or holidays. And best of all no summer work. I will work a total of 172 days in a year. I will be 5 minutes from my job if I drive or I can bike to it in ten minutes.  No more getting up at 3:30 in the morning, driving for an hour and working a 10 hour shift and driving another hour home.  I will put in 7.5 hours days at the most. I am so excited to start this new adventure.

So at 56 years old I am started a new career. It is not a high paying job nor is it full time. But it is a job I have always wanted to try so I am.

It is never to late to try something you have always wanted to do.....
Sharon