Genealogy is a wonderful hobby, and thinking about family always brings up fun and interesting thoughts. At least it does for me. Today I was thinking about the work that I do, and how my career path is different than those of my ancestors. You may want to take a break from your research to think about this fun topic.
First, I thought about my parents. My father is now in management, but when he first started out, he was a lineman for the same company. This means that he has an understanding of how telephones work and how to install them in homes as well as work on the larger infrastructure of poles and wires. He climbs poles like a champ, and teaches others how to safely do the same as well as how to drive the bucket trucks and other equipment. My mother was a nurse before becoming a stay at home mom. Now that my sister and I are grown, she has her own store on eBay where she sells environmentally friendly products.
I next thought about how my career choices are similar and different from those of my parents. I would also like to note that my mother’s mother was a nurse. I feel woozy when I see blood, and any discussion of veins, blood, eyes, internal organs, or any other medical or bodily topic makes me feel squishy. The nurse gene did not get passed on to me, that is for sure. I did inherit from my mom a dedication to staying at home with my children as well as her entrepreneurial spirit as I do my best to balance being a stay at home mom with running two home – based businesses.
As for my father, I am not very in the know about how things work. I was never one of those kids who takes everything apart to see how it works and then tries to put it back together. I also would not likely do well climbing telephone poles, as I tend to be rather clumsy. The world is a safe place as long as I stick to driving cars and not attempting to operate bucket trucks or anything larger than an SUV. His work skills are not a part of my learned or genetic programming, but curiously enough I see quite a bit of these innate tendencies in my son.
My son is only two years old, but some of the things that he does remind me of the things my dad does for work. For example, he does not have a telephone to take apart but he has a work bench with toy tools and wooden pieces like nuts, bolts, and other parts that he can take apart and put together any way he wants to with his tiny little hands. I love to watch him as he does it, as it is both fascinating and adorable. He also is very agile for a person of his size, and I love watching him play with my husband when they do “circus tricks” that let my son show off his incredible sense of balance. Telephone poles will probably be easy for him once he is big enough, and he already wants me to help him climb “up high” on anything he sees.
Photo by taliesin on morguefile.com.