Friday Five

A terrific set of Labor Day questions from Singing Owl:

Tell us about the worst job you ever had.

Summer after my sophomore year of college: Hasbro Toys assembly line in Pawtucket RI, making yellow plastic GI Joe flashlights. "Nuff said.

2. Tell us about the best job you ever had.

Adjunct instructor in English at community college: students from countries all over the place and an array of income brackets, many of them about to lose their public assistance benefits under the Clinton Administration's revamping of the welfare system, and trying to earn as many college credits as possible to make themselves more employable. A number of of my students had struggled against alcohol and/or drug addicition and lost children to County Services, and their comeback stories, written in formats we struggled to transform into pieces recognizeable as basic English compositions, were truly inspiring.

3. Tell us what you would do if you could do absolutely anything (employment related) with no financial or other restrictions.

I would be a pastor-spiritual director-adjunct college instructor-photographer. (Sound familiar? Two more years?) Our way too-big house would be transformed into a retreat center and we would live in the bungalow next door. Or in someplace spectacularly beautiful. For instance, Oregon, or the desert southwest, or Maine, or Paris. The American church in Paris was looking for a pastor last year; I thought that sounded just about perfect. And French learned via the hanging-out-in-cafes method would be a breeze after Greek and Hebrew.

4. Did you get a break from labor this summer? If so, what was it and if not, what are you gonna do about it?

I don't think CPE counts as a break. But I did have that one day in North Carolina. And I AM going on retreat next week.

5. What will change regarding your work as summer morphs into fall? Are you anticipating or dreading?

Back to seminary, back to spiritual direction program, onward to church intership. Mostly anticipating, but a little apprehensive about my ability to pull off this balancing act for yet another year.

Bonus question: For the gals who are mothers, do you have an interesting story about labor and delivery (LOL)? If you are a guy pal, not a mom, or you choose not to answer the above, is there a song, a book, a play, that says "workplace" to you?

My twin boys were born on Labor Day week-end 24 years ago! Bullet points: overdue, induction over Friday and Saturday, c-section, and by Saturday night I was a nursing mother of two! OR photos show one baby settled peacefully into a satisfied sleep and another baby wide-eyed and frantic about the new turn of events. Nothing much has changed.