Occupation

Firstly, I'd like to apologize for my vanity about the size of my fingers.  I should not worry if  someone thinks that I have edematous fingers. 

Today I have been occupied with thoughts about my occupation.  When I was at the chiropractor (my neck is much better by the way) I had to fill out all the normal health care related forms.  When I got the blank for OCCUPATION _________________ I put "Nurse."  But that got me to thinking.  Yes, I am a nurse by training and licensing, but unless you count putting Neosporin on rug burns, and ice packs on head bumps just to get preschoolers to be quiet, I can't really say that I am doing much "nursing" these days.  So I started to think of what it is that occupies me and therefore, what is my OCCUPATION?

1. "Homemaker" but I do such a terrible job at keeping the home, that it feels like lying.

2.  "Stay at home mom" but I don't like to stay at home, because then I have to look at my home that is in desperate need of the "making"

3.  "Domestic engineer" sounds like someone who knows how to make a budget and stick with it

4.  "Domestic goddess" sounds like I am the master of my domain and that I have flowing hair, and i definitely do not fit this profile

so...what is it that occupies me?  I would say that it is some of the following:

1.  I shop - groceries, clothing, plumbers, craft crap, early childhood educations

2.  I listen - to a baby who babbles, a three year old who does not stop talking, to friends, to family, and to my husband

3.  I teach - I attempt to teach penmanship (how to hold a crayon), geography (maps showing mexico, germany, and kansas are our favorites). music appreciation (to stop the talking in the car), math (if you have 8 Cheerios in one pile and 5 in the other, how many Cheerios do you have to eat from the first pile to get both piles to be equal?), and anatomy and physiology (this seems self-explanatory with a 3 year old).

4.  I am an occupational, physical and speech therapist specializing in the training of activities of daily living such as: dressing yourself, cleaning yourself, and pronunciation of the letters/sounds "L" and "R" and "Th"

5.  I read to the illiterate...multiple times per day

6.  I take pictures - on little camera that only takes good pictures outside and in my kitchen, but I take them

7.  I type...too much... a welcome distraction from all that cooking and cleaning i should be doing

I would say also that I am human pillow, a food source, an event planner, a laundress, a driver, and a philanthropist supporting the zoo and the children's museum.


So after all this thinking out loud, I still do not have an answer for what my OCCUPATION is... I was hoping for some witty one liner here, but nothing seems to come to mind.  All that I know is that I have a very good job.  It is so good that I will even work for free.