Part Three: I apologize if this is incredibly boring.

I was really bummed when Husband quit his job recently. Not only because we now have a lot less money, and not just because I'd miss him waking up at normal hours, but really because of health insurance. I mean, it's not really that big of a deal. We were covered through his job, and now through mine. So no loss or anything. But if we're covered through my job then... well... I can't exactly leave it once I pop out a baby. After I finally came to the conclusion that this is what I want. Them's the breaks, I guess.

So I've been trying to come to terms with my future as a working mom. I suppose a starting point would be liking my job...

An aside about what I do. I am a visual merchandiser for a major clothing retailer. That means I do things like style mannequins and create window displays. It's also boring things like deciding which rack or table goes where and which color order those sweaters are displayed in. And making sure all the signs that tell you their price are up. Among other things. And I don't get complete say over any of this, of course, because corporate wants all the stores to look similar, so I have more of an interpretation role. It's fun and I like it, but it is far less glamorous than it sounds. Most days I lift heavy things, break fingernails, and sweat a lot. Very nice.

I sort of fell into this as a career, because god knows I didn't set out to become a merchandiser.  I got a part time job as a sales associate after I tired of working in food service, and eventually found myself helping more and more on what we call the "brand" side of things. I was good at it. And soon it did become something I rather liked doing.

So now I'm trying to figure out how to turn this job into a career I'm excited about. There are a couple positions higher than mine, but they turn into people management pretty quick. And then the next step is to become the GM of my own store, which is so far from what I want to do. The other route I could go is corporate. This is the true creation of all the visual displays I implement. That sounds more like something I could get into.

We just finished remodeling our store, and in the last week before our reopening, the corporate merchants came to help. Oh. My. God. Wow. That is what I want to do.



So I'm in a better place right now. There is some stupid drama and stress at work right now, but there always is. At least now I have a career path I can be excited about as a venture into motherhood as a working girl.