My "Job" and How Cool It Is......

by Zenobia L Silas-Carson
(Minnesota)

Hi Everyone!

I guess I have not retired in the sense that most people think. I have worked since I was in my teens, with just a little time between for a hobby called raising children after divorce, when they were too young to leave alone and I had no money for a sitter, so I stayed home and did my motherly duties, while reaching out to the community as a volunteer or a kind of teacher's aid at their schools, etc.

When I got a few of them old enough to watch the others ( they were five in number and I was still going through a messy and nasty divorce) I went back to school, earned my GED and on to community college years later.

From my early forties to mid fifties, I was a nursing assistant, then worked as a lead teacher at a pre-school, then as a teachers aide working with special needs children.

A mystery illness left me unable to go to work daily, so I took in children in my little apartment/home daycare until 2008 when I moved to another area of Minnesota and began the work that I do now.

I moved to a housing complex that has multi-family units, and worked short hours as an office assistant, then a leasing/housing specialist. I was bumped from my position after four years but not fired.

I was sent to a 55+ 90 unit building to work initially as an office assistant, but the manager gave her two week notice as soon as I got there, and I ( with NO skills in this area) became the interim manager until two months later ( January) when they hired a new one.

I thought I would be given short and insignificant hours again, but instead I have my own office, where I am now not only an office assistant but I got a new title, which is Event Planner. I bring in all the fun stuff, and I am facilitating a women's journal group and fun fitness class.

I also volunteer with Second Harvest Foods that delivers a free box of food each month to those who are eligible, and I have a little "store" in a back room where I have canned goods, toiletries, etc for those who can barely make it on their social security checks what with paying rent and buying their meds and food.

Do I feel great doing this as a senior? Of course, because I feel doubly blessed to be "able" to do this kind of work and have the energy that I have.

I am so totally BLESSED to have this gift come at this time in my life. I am thinking of moving to my place of work one day and living among the people I have grown to love so much.

Is every day rosy and filled with sunshine? Of course not! Some days we are all pretty grumpy, but I try to bring as much sunshine as I can to my peers and remind them that we are all in this together.

My new manager is only thirty five, but we compliment each other as a team. She is less business and more compassion which gets her into trouble sometimes, but I hope she never leaves.

I am feeling better spiritually and physically as a result of my work. I am blessed.

Comments for My "Job" and How Cool It Is......

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MOTIVATED WOMAN
by: Sharyn~~~CANADA

Sounds like in the beginning, after your divorce, the situation was not kind to you, u had to work hard, be a mother & father to your children, take care of them the best way u could for that period on time.

There wasn't alot of help out there, not like today, young girls all over the country become pregnant and expect the state or province (whatever country ) to pick up the tab, give them a place to live, then expect welfare to continue on with their lives!

You did the right thing, with the help of your older children taking care of the younger ones, you managed to give them a life and in the process taught your children respect, admiration, how to be special working as a member of a team, how to love 1 another**

May u have a long & happy life- enjoy your grandchildren & their children~~~

U have made the world a better place by being here*

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