Seeking God Knows What

Yeah, I’m mixing it up cause I don’t feel like finishing my survivorship answers at the moment. I have a hunch that I might get a question from PH about what is so different about being a cancer survivor than anything else, that I let it “color” my view of life? Something I’ve been thinking since I wrote- but I’ll get back to it. Oh, and PH, if you are reading this, I heard a song just for you “Cheney’s got a gun”

My brother has a blog (a livejournal one) that he doesn’t write in very much. I just got to it through T’s own livejournal which he rarely writes in. It is weird to find out more about who your sibling is through their blog than in real life. My brother has never been much of a talker. Granted with four rather talkative sisters (I’m the second oldest- girl, girl, girl, boy, girl), he did not have much chance of getting a word in edgewise. But even at times when we were alone, he never had much to say. His world is music. Initially playing guitar, double bass, electric bass (he is incredibly talented and primarily taught himself how to play with the exception of double bass- oh, and he learned to play the tuba in high school just because the band needed on and he and the school band director were on good terms), now he is much more involved in recording and sound work.

So far, he is the only one of us kids to not follow an academic major- mine was political science, my younger sister’s was English literature, my older sister is in the process of a psychology major and my youngest sister, a high school senior, is also considering English. My brother chose music and a field in music he could actually get a job and do what he studied. Of the two of us who have graduated from college, neither of us are pursuing a job related to our major. Mine is part-time marketing support focusing primarily on one project. Pretty clerical and, at times, very tedious and frustrating (but that could be a whole additional entry about the project and the company I work for!). Definitely not something I love. I’d like to work in a library as a part-time job because I love books. I worked retail for 7 years and I would consider going back if I could find a retail job that paid enough- the pay gap between boring admin work and retail is too big. If I ever get financially sorted out and a chance to go to school without having to work and be mommy (I don’t think I can cope with all three- so school is out until we can afford to lose my income), I would like to get into pediatric nursing and also get certification in child life.

Hmmm…

But we also want to adopt at least one more infant and I’ve considered talking to T about us adopting a sibling group of two or three after our first two are both in school. So the money has to get worked out first and the adoption family thoughts might lead to me being a stay at home mom, which I would also like (my family thinks I would get bored being a SAHM but I haven’t decided yet!). I wouldn’t want to “waste” the money on getting a degree when I’ll end up spending the first years of having it staying home- so it might be a goal down the road when I’m 40ish and my kids are less dependent on me. My aunt got her teaching certification after she was forty- and that leaves plenty of time to have a nice career (and help with kids’ college costs).

I’m also thinking that if I did end up becoming a SAHM, I might be able to become more of an advocate for childhood cancer survivors, do some volunteer work with a school or church or hospital- or even somewhere lIke the Ronald McDonald House near DeVos Children’s Hospital.

Just some random thoughts about the future…