Focus on Job Today (with Son in Mind)

I am looking for a job. Not as a waitress. I want to do something where my son can actually be with me, if possible.

I am thinking, if I did something with music and art, maybe with the Dept. of State or something, where I'm involved or organizing events, I would like to do something that encourages and supports artists, where I could have my son with me and he could be involved as well.

If I make enough money, and if he doesn't mind traveling, I would like to have a tutor for him if we are overseas doing something. I think, in a regular school but one with flexibility for him to travel with me.

My son and I love being together, and he would thrive on being in this kind of environment. Music and art are fun for kids too, anyway.

The other option or something I want to do as well, is to finish my degree. If I live in D.C., I was told I can get in-state tuition to go to any college. So, since I went to Portland State University in Oregon, if I live in D.C., if PSU would allow me to complete courses from a distance, I could do this from D.C. with in-state tuition rates. If not with PSU, I might see if I could transfer to George Mason with the intention of applying to law school there.

I have always intended on finishing my degree and I would be interested in going to law school, but if I could go to law school (maybe George Mason or something) while I was working in art and music, that would be a nice combination of using analytical and research parts of my brain, in combination with the artistic side. And, my son wouldn't have to be in daycare the whole time and could be involved.

He would like preschool but I do not believe my son is happy with FT daycare and I am going to rescue him from THAT.

He loves being with me and he would love being a "helper" in an artistic and musical environment.

And then that's sort of blending diplomatic things, and we could maybe meet people from all over the world, but on an arts and music level, and not as a spy or even as a diplomat really. Just doing arts & music stuff.

I wouldn't mind being a diplomat, I just don't want anyone thinking I'm a spy or being in a position that's dangerous for my son in any way.

So, if my son was with me while I finished college and was doing arts and music things, he would enjoy this and then I could be working on a law degree and by the time this needed more attention, he would be in school part of the time and I could start working on cases. I would mainly want to take cases that help people in supporting their civil or constitutional rights.

I would be more interested in doing something with art and music and dance, on an international level, and for diplomacy, because I could have my son with me. I would be a good lawyer, if I got in front of the jury, I could be persuasive and argue with my heart, but the problem is it's so time-consuming and not very easy to do with kids, if you want them with you as much as possible. Law takes a TON of time, and it's almost a career where it's...I don't know. I don't know how anyone is able to do legal work PT. It's all or nothing I think. Either you get involved or you don't, and then it consumes your entire life. I think it's a career I could manage better if my son were in upper elementary or junior high, because then he'd have more social things going on and he could be involved with others.

If I were single, I would be a kick-ass attorney. I think I am too devoted to my son to be very good at it as a mother though...I mean, I don't know how I would draw the line with the time constraints. If he were in jr. high, he could have extra-curricular activities in addition to school. But cases are things where...you hardly have time to eat.

I wouldn't take a case I couldn't devote myself to, and it's impossible to leave it at the office. I would sort of like doing this and maybe putting it together with figuring things out in an investigative way. Making sense of odds and ends. I could probably do more for others in a legal capacity when my son was older and if I wasn't the attorney, at least I'd have the education and could maybe start up a firm that is devoted to helping others with complicated cases but who don't have money. So it could never hurt to have a law degree, regardless and I might be able to help people by just giving advice here and there, for free, in passing or in conversation (within ethical limits or course, for dispensing legal advice).

I think maybe arts stuff with travel and then law school at the same time. I know I like being involved in international communities and I like learning about other cultures so travel and art would be a nice combination.

My son likes mechanical things and tractors and machinery, and enjoys seeing the workings of a farm, but he could see a lot of science at the museums in the D.C. area and there's an aquarium too and I can't imagine how much he would like going to all the places around here. I wouldn't mind living in another area either, as long as it's sort of East Coast. I wouldn't mind visiting CA, but I don't want to live in WA or OR for sure. I have too many bad memories associated with these states.

I would live almost anywhere, but I think I know what "type" of work I'd be good at and what I would like to be involved in. My first step is to find out what the Dept. of State has to offer, or what I might have to offer them. And then I'm going to contact the Dept. of Education about my loans from school and see if they will help me with that, if I show them the timeline of my disabilities and legal problems which prevented me from paying them back right away.

I have to figure out a way to get back into college, but I think I'm in a default status, which they said they could help me clear up if I gave them documentation of what was going on, but I didn't get around to organizing all of the documentation.

But this is what I want to do. And, I think, this is a very good working plan for my son too, which would be in his best interests.