A Meandering Path... The Early Years.

When I have conversations with people about jobs I've held or places I've lived, most look at me quizzically and wonder how I did all of that before I turned 29. Okay okay... I'm 42 but I did cover a lot of ground in my younger years. Since my resume no longer captures many of these gems, I am compelled to start at the very beginning and track what jobs I've had (and therefore, where I've lived) since I entered the workforce at the tender age of 13. Ready? Here we go!

Okay - I actually really first started earning money younger than 13 - I must have been 11 or 12 when I first started babysitting. The fact that the kids I babysat now have kids old enough to have kids is an entire blog post unto itself!

13 years old (Summer of 1983) - Moved to Ogunquit, ME and lived in a family friend's dingy basement apartment with three other 17 & 18 year old girls for the summer. I worked as a chamber maid at an inn next door, a dish washer at the neighboring restaurant, and a bus-person at a restaurant way down "the drag" on Route 1 - a long-arse bicycle ride away... especially in the pouring rain.

14 years old - Home (Cornwall/Kent, CT). Began teaching skiing at Mohawk Mountain Ski Area. I did it because I enjoyed a free season's pass as an elementary student in town but that opportunity dried up when we graduated from 8th grade. I ended up loving it and taught skiing at Mohawk off and on until I graduated college in 1993.

15 years old - Continued working at Mohawk and began my career as an ice cream scooper at Stosh's Ice Cream in Kent, CT. We dished up homemade (still one of my favorite brands ever!) ice cream to the likes of James Taylor, Kevin Bacon, and Michael J. Fox. Yep, I'm dropping names! While I'm at it, I should admit that I didn't know who James Taylor was until after I had served him some blueberry ice cream made from Henry Kissinger's (yep, THAT H.K.!) blueberry bushes. I was a pretty cool scooper until my co-worker said "Don't you know who that IS???"  I worked there for the better part of two years and loved it! It was the hub of our small town social life! My favorite dish to scoop was called "The Dip-a-dopolis" (sp?) and included something ridiculous like 32 scoops of ice cream and every topping on the bar. To this day I still can't offer anyone ice cream without asking "One scoop or two? Cup or Cone? Sugar or plain?"

16 years old - Ice cream scooper by summer (with mega buff right arm) and ski instructor by winter (with mega buff thighs). I also did a short stint working at the local dry cleaners. It wasn't my favorite gig as I hated the smell of the cleaning fluids and it was b-o-r-i-n-g when nobody came in for hours!

17 years old - This is when my lack of academic ambition came into play and I managed to convince myself, my parents, and my guidance counselor that it was a good idea to go on "Work Study" for my senior year of high school. I had two jobs: In the winter I ran the ski school desk and taught skiing (and skied during every free time we had - yeah, it was hard) and year-round I worked for Kent Carved Signs as a sign finisher. I blame my poor long-term memory on the long hours in the paint and stain room with zero ventilation.

From here on the ages get a little fuzzy so I'll ditch that format.

Garage Lacky at Tobin's Garage, Kent, CT. You might figure out that from the name of the business that it was a family business. This means that you do what needs doing no matter what it is, what time it needs doing or what other plans you might have had. I did everything from shuttle vehicles for the dealership and service department to drive school buses to invoice customers and do sales paperwork to bank/post office runs to lunch runs... it was my year of bouncing after an unsuccessful semester as a graphics design major and motivated me to find what I wanted to do and get to it!

Recreation Activities Aide (not sure about the title) at Lakeridge in Burrville, CT. This was a long way from home (45 minute commute) but it was my first stint in the world of recreation. I enjoyed it for the most part but soured on the job after continually being treated like a " second class townie" by the wealthy folks that weekended there. Ick.

That brings me up to around 19 years old. Not bad for just a few years in the work force, eh? Oh... it gets better and more varied as time goes on. Tune in for the next post!