Marketing and Management. I managed and opened new pet stores for a company for about 10 years. Then opened my own for 5 years. It was good, but I found myself in a place I had to either 'go big' or stay 'mom and pop'. I sold it. I had many ethical issues that made the decision easy.

So I'm in an early retirement. I sold the store in '95; no regrets. I babysit now - just two awesome boys 6 yrs and 10 mos. The 6 year old helps in the garden. The other day we were in Lowe's and I asked him to see if they had any succulents. He found the 2 racks they had. Awesome, I tell you! He reads seed catalogues with me and helps me pull dandelion blossoms.

I love life & growing and nurturing things. My DH and I weren 't able to have our own children, but my life is quite full and lovely.

Mickie

I have been unemployed since last August, when my health and my commute got in the way of my gainful employment. I had been in the Travel Biz for 20 + years, prior to that, and enjoyed that career. However, post 9/11, the Agency that I had managed for over 10 years was closed by the owner. Not that we were struggling, but out of fear. I was not able to retain my client list that I had built up, but for a few. I stayed in and out of the biz, trying to regain my footing, but my health was the last straw. It was no longer worth it. So, thank God, my old house sold, and left me with a bit of cash to survive, and I am now back in college, on something called 2nd Career. Though it has been many years since I was a student, I have always sought to educate myself to keep current, so this isn't a huge shock to the system, the economics are...lol. Friday was my first PD day ever. What fun. I am lucky in so many ways to be leaving a profession that was never fully respected, nor demanded respect. It was full of people who would cut the price and make $20 on a trip, just to sell it. I am now taking Medical Office Administration and Transcription. I am hoping to make this a home-based business, that I can use to work into retirement and old age!!! Plus to be back in school, and learning again???? What a jolt of adrenaline!!!

Nancy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Something that helped me on the way....

Oh, um. I GARDEN!
My job is gardening! I create gardens for people, renovate them, teach people how to garden, vegetable garden, fruit, flowers anything.

Weeeeeeee!

I'm a school nurse and right now take care of 700 or so 5th and 6th graders. I've always loved gardening and gardens and pretty much all things scientific. Everything kind of fits together into the circle of life!
Joann

Nancy, I've never read that book, but I like the message.

I keep telling myself, this is the last project I will do. I don't want to do this work anymore. Everyone tells me how good I am at it. But I'm sick of it. Still, I'll keep on doing this until they just stop coming altogether. And then I will worry. I know that I should be out finding another block of cheese.

Anticipate. Monitor. Adapt. Change. Very good motto in these uncertain times. Thanks for sharing that!

It's really hard when you start to hate what you do...you need to salvage what it is that you love about it. I love to travel, I got sick of the biz.

You might want to look into this! Now, the links I found are very uptown, but, you have imagination. You could design and build follies. They may not be well know in the US...'How do you define an architectural folly? There's no simple definition. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as: "A popular name for any costly structure considered to have shown folly in the builder," while Chambers' Dictionary says: "a great useless structure, or one left unfinished, having been begun without a reckoning of the cost." But that doesn't begin to hint at the wealth of variety and ingenuity to be discovered in the world's follies. Many of them are used, many of them are finished, some of them were even built with one eye on the balance sheet - what links them all is a joyous unpredictability.

If a building makes you stop, and scratch your head, and ask yourself "Why?", then unless it is a seat of government there is a good chance that it is a folly.'

Kinda fun - it could be a faux roman wall, or a bit of an aquaduct, or a bridge going nowhere. I did some really basic searches. You might want to do more.

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These are near where I live, and I always thought, how cool. In travel, you are taught never to sell from your own pocket. Remember, there are people who would happily install a Token original. Just thinking.....

Nancy.

I'm retired and happy in my garden. I was a computer operator for many years and started when computers looked like this:

Libby..............who has seen many of changes ;)

ps Yes, I worked with men.

Here is a link that might be useful: old computer system

My job is to take good care of an elderly man, to assure that he stays able to operate the machinery it takes to maintain my garden and all that surrounds it. Like today, when DH hauled off two big dead limbs that fell this weekend. Retired, I'm a Registered Nurse.

When I worked, I gardened for relaxation. It was always very satisfying to come home after a day of dealing with Health Care Management (not the patients, they were super!) and release frustrations by dead-heading: "Off with Your head; off with Your head, off with Your head!" Whack, whack, whack!

Now I garden for sheer pleasure and to help keep this place from growing up in vines and weeds and seedling trees.

Nell

I am the librarian of our county historical society, a job which I really love.

Libby, I remember those big computers. I worked on a keypunch machine for the old W.T. Grant Stores back in the 70's.

I teach high school learning disabled students. I'm afraid I've grown tired of my job over the past 13 years. Special education students tend to be very needy and there is a high burn out rate in my profession. What I would really like to do is some type of transcription or data entry from home.

I think my biggest problem is that I work from home, alone. And with the garden just outside the basement door, it makes it that much harder to concentrate on the task at hand.

The next 5 weeks should be interesting. Spring is coming and I'm going to be stuck inside. At least I can open the garage door and get all the pollen second hand.

I haven't worked in almost three years due to disabilities. When I was working I was a Certified Dental Assistant and a Certified Professional Coder (both medical and dental). I worked in several private practice dental offices and at a large Universtity Hospital Clinic over the years. It was very brain heavy work and when I look back at it now I have no idea how I did it especially while I was raising three kids at the same time. Wheeew!

I gardened purely because I love the smell of dirt and I love the color of all the flowers. I can never get enough of them. Also, to be honest, lol, I like it when people walk into my yard and their mouths drop open or they smile from ear to ear. It makes me feel like I done something good, for them, that day.

Midnightsmum, You would find great personal gain by adding Medical terminology and a Coding Certificate to your career path classes. They all fit together hand in hand. If you decide you want to move up from there in a few years you might consider seeking a degree in Health Information Management. Your resume would be delightful in the medical world with that education check list on it. Check out the link below for class information. You can also call them to find local colleges who are offering classes near you. Just some thoughts to ponder over. I wish you much luck!

MeMo

Here is a link that might be useful: AAPC

I am one of those prehistoric beings who never worked regularly outside the home once the children were born! I don't think there are many of us around. I always took care of the house and yard and then the farm and the children......then pretty late in life, we bought the adjoining larger farm and reopened the dairy and did that for 15 years. When I did work, it was in office management and accounting.

I manage 4000 wireless cell phones and blackberry's for a large utility company out East, but I manage it remote from Michigan. I also project manage several other telecom projects my company is involved in.
The closest I get to gardening in that job is when I designed and planted/landscaped the front of our office buildings
and on the days I work from home when I can sneak out to the yard!

I'm a clerical worker in a hospital for the state.

Melissa

5th grade teacher - I love every minute of being in the classroom. The kids are great! It's all the other stuff that gets in the way. I try to focus on what's important and appreciate having a job in this economy. Nikki

I was a mainframe Systems Analyst for over 25 years but was 'downsized' almost 3 years ago. I miss that kind of work; I really enjoyed it and was good at it. But I have to tell ya, after nearly 3 years of no alarm clock, no meetings, no late-night calls, no deadlines, no out-of-town seminars and installations, no corporate back-biting and politics, it would be nearly impossible for me to go back to it and let someone tell me what to do anymore.

Sure, I miss the $, but lately I've been able to do so many of the things I've always wanted to find time for: write, garden, attend classes, do some home improvements, blog, think, reflect, enjoy my friends, volunteer. Half the time I don't even KNOW what time it is! Yep. Can't beat it with a stick.... ;-)

Kris

Kris, I love the no alarm clock aspect of working for myself. Most nights I go to bed around midnight. I wake up around 7, 8 depending on the sun/clouds. My body works with the natural rhythms. In summer, I'll be up around 6. In winter, I can sleep til 9 or 10. LOL.

I'm a graphic designer. I used to work for myself and I loved it but then health insurance got way too expensive and my husband wanted to retire and I couldn't be on his insurance any more so I went and got a "real job" working for a printer. I like not having to chase new accounts or pay for computer and software upgrades. But I don't like having to work to someone else's standards (or lack thereof) and having no control over how decisions are made.

I work in really unpleasant (ugly, noisy, smelly, inefficient) conditions for far less pay than I got on my own. And recently everyone in the shop has been cut back to 32 hours a week - a 20% cut. That hurts. We still have to do the work but we do it in 4 days rather than 5. I do have some savings (that I thought were for later) so I can manage for now but I don't know what I'll buy plants with in spring.

I actually got really into gardening after I started working at the print shop - there had to be something to counter all that ugly! About the time I started the job my husband and I "downsized" and moved from our beautiful house over in the city to a far less nice place out in the country. I do love being out in the woods but the house is really nothing to write home about.

So I try to make the outside pretty and it is a bit of a losing battle given our poor, sandy soil and the heat in summer and late spring freezes. Still...one needs to see something beautiful and alive and growing. No?

I'd love to retire so I could really spend time in the garden and maybe even work on improving the house. But I really don't see that happening. At least with my cut back schedule I now have three days a week to garden instead of only two like last year! And weeding is free!

After ten years as a legal secretary, "time off" to raise my children, then returning to the paid workforce as an administrative assistant in a healthcare setting, I have finally found my dream job ... and every day is a walk in the park - literally! I am basically coordinator of horticultural programming for a 54-acre horticultural park that is part of our county park system. Plan programs related to horticulture (which include photography, art, nature/environment, etc.) to offer to the public, both adults and children, and find instructors for same (or teach them myself). Also recruit and coordinate our volunteers, answer the horticultural helpline, conduct some programs and tours myself, and work closely with our librarian who maintains the 4000+ book horticultural library and with the Master Gardener program in our county ... from which I graduated in 2007. I also write the "It's Time To..." column and prepare advertisements for our park system's quarterly newsletter. Also try to generally keep things running smoothly ... it's
after doing it for so many years as a secretary/admin and mom it's just a habit.

It's such a delight to share gardening and this park with our visitors. A popular spot with artists and for family, prom and wedding photos, we also have a fair number of weddings held in the gardens, and those are always special ... when we have the time to stop and look.

I studied voice and piano and was an opera singer for many years. I also taught piano,always working out of my home so I could be with my children. After my 3rd child was born I became a full time Mom and quit teaching and singing from 1982-1986. Then I went back to school after 15 years away and got my RN. I worked in Home Health from 1991 -2004. I then retired and started in the restaurant business as a dishwasher in the restaurant where my son is the chef. I have been promoted these past two years to hostess. A checkered past.

I have very little experience in gardening. Any successes I have are purely accidental. All I can say is that recently the accidents are getting more frequent as I see signs that stuff I planted last year are coming back :)

What talented people we have in this forum. I enjoyed reading all your posts. Wow!

I worked 20 something years as a graphic artist for printers and I hated it. DH and I started a printing company in May of 1999. We print roll labels for foods, confections, cosmetics, wines and pharmaceuticals.

I'd love to back to school and get a degree either in botany or entomology.

Gardening is an adventure, you never know what will happen or what you might find. It takes me away from daily worries and relieves stress. I can't imagine not spending time in my garden. When I die I told DH to bury me in the compost pile.

"When I die I told DH to bury me in the compost pile." LOL - Now that is the statement of a true gardener!

A gardenstateofmind - you do sound like you have a dream job, at least one I would love.

Trailrunner - opera singer! Wow I am impressed at the talent this forum has.

I was a software engineer and software development manager in Silicon Valley for 15 years. It was very high stress and an all consuming job. I quit and moved back home to WNY when we had our children. My two kids are still young, so I am now a full time mom and it's the best job in the world. I feel so blessed to have this time with my kids, I appreciate them every day.

When the kids are older I would love to have a part-time job somewhere in the horticulture industry, we'll see.

I also have the checkered past. I was a bookkeeper in a bank in my younger days, and quit to raise kids. When I was divorced, I needed to make enough money to feed 6 kids, and went to work in construction. I hired in as a Millwright helper, not knowing what a Crescent wrench was in 1976. I transferred crafts, and worked as a pipe fitter for many years. I finally retired from that life in 1991, and opened an Antique Store, called "Sallye Maude's". Loved it!

My DH and I started our landscaping business when he got laid off from a good job in 1999. We were encouraged by friends who were Master Gardeners with me. They knew the clients we wanted to attract, and were very helpful to us. It is a hard business sometimes. We were very fortunate in that all our business was 'word of mouth'. We never advertised!

Now, I am retired, and spend my time doing basically whatever I want to do; most of that is garden related. My husband is going to work for a couple of years yet, and I look forward to when he retires. I think I do....LOL

Janie

crunch numbers.
Specifically trying to figure out between probability stats, a special algorithmic formula derived from observing how many times the red squirrel chooses peanuts over dried berries in my birdfeeder, and calling Dionne Warwick at precisely 12:34.56 am daily as to when I will win the lottery and be able to devote 100% of my time to my garden.

I think I've mentioned before that I'm an architect. Today I got to design (well, tinker with a design that others had started but wasn't coming together) for a deck and patio outside a house that we have been remodeling. I'm actually pretty happy with how it is coming together, but the client hasn't seen it yet...

Now we just need to have a bunch of people commit to new projects...

I am a technical writer for a software company. I somehow have a talent for making highly technical information understandable. Who would have thunk it? Before that, I was an art director for a design studio. Mr Spazzycat just got layed off from his job as a graphic designer, but it's not all bad...he was planning on retiring next year anyway. Now that he has all this free time, what are the chances he'll take up cooking and cleaning?

I'm a social worker, working as a nursing home inspector for the state. Most nursing homes where I live are very good, but many are suffering from budget crunches too. It's not always a pleasant job, needless to say, but I always feel that if I can solve one problem, or make life a little better for even one person during the process, it is all worth while. I've been doing this for almost 20 years, and I'm not ready to quit yet!

I'm a weekend gardener, living and working in NYC and gardening at my weekend house 2-1/2 hours away. I'm a children's book editor -- have been for 30 years, at different big companies whose names you would recognize from books you shared with your children. I do love what I do -- it is very demanding -- and demands now are less fulfilling as corporations rule the industry with their mandated profit margins. The challenge is being true to yourself and making books that will truly benefit children and be loved by them at the same time as satisfying the bean counters. People always assume my job is so much "fun," but while it can be rewarding, it's a very competitive field. Gardening is my solace, and since I live in a cold climate, I can only garden for part of the year. The rest of the time I think and dream about gardening. I think about my garden a lot during the week when I'm away from it. I need to work to pay for my house and garden. It's quite simple really. My dreams about retiring are just dreams.

Where shall I begin? I worked full-time from 18 to 52 when I took early retirement to get my health back (I did).

The 16 years prior, I worked for a large software company where I was in management -- IT, then R&D, then Marketing Strategy -- except for the last 2 years of it when I didn't want to manager anymore! :-) 12 years prior to that, I was a programmer/analyst at the university. Yes, I started on keypunch cards. Prior to that -- manager at a non-profit medical research company.

I am a freelance writer (travel/garden). At least, I get enough paying projects to call myself one. It's beginning to resemble WORK lately! :-) My blog (unpaid writing) isn't being updated as frequently because I need my creative brain cells to use for paid writing. There are only so many creative cells in my brain, and I've been making big withdrawals lately.

My past is definitely not checkered, and sounds pretty tame and boring compared to some of yours. I snagged a position teaching high school chemistry, physics, and math in a beautiful resort town when I was the only applicant for the job. It turned out that I was well suited for the job and the town, and I retired from there thirty-seven years later. I wasn't actually ready to retire, but the school board waved some incentive money in the faces of us old-timers, and off I went. The word bittersweet would describe my feelings perfectly at that time.

To make ends meet, I've worked summers at different jobs, including golf course groundsworker, carpenter, garden hand, and house painter. Once I worked my way up high enough on the teaching salary schedule, I was able to get my summers free, which was incredibly nice. Now I am retired, which has become even nicer.

This is a really interesting topic, and I am enjoying reading about all of your lives, and the different choices you all have made.

ThinMan

I am now a meal coach/produce specialist. In the past I've been a produce manager, restaurant manager, bartender, cocktail waitress, short order cook(I could put those boneheads on Hells Kitchen to shame, lol,) worked for my father- that was hard! Oh and the worst job I had was papergirl in a suburb where the houses are fairly far apart so it was a long long route, and in bad weather, it was even longer!

Trailrunner,
I had a friend that was an opera singer. What voice she had! She was the first person to win the local music scholarship for singing. It always went to band members. She went to the Boston Conservatory. I sometimes think of her and wonder what happened to her.
Remy

Memo - thanks, yes, I have just finished two weeks of basic Medical Terminology!! I am very proud to say I got 94% on my exam - we'll see how the overall with the project, etc. goes. We are now into two weeks of of the nervous system, as well as starting transcription. I hope that I like/am good at the transcription, as I could make a good living at this, and work from home!!! That is my plan/dream.

And TM, I am even more checkered than some - I worked as a bartender till I was 30. Just to tick my Mum off. It worked, and I really had a lot of fun. However, I figured 30 was the natural end to that career.

Nancy.

what an astounding ...an AMAZING ...group we have here. I am in awe as I read the stories of each of you. I wish we could sit down for a weekend and talk and then walk through gardens togther...what a weekend we would have. Oh the absolute joy...I am going to be in NYC Spring Break...March 15th or so...hope to maybe see some of you...c

I'm in awe with all the talent in this forum. Trailrunner I so agree, it would be a blast for all of us to sit down and talk in person. I bet there would be so much laughter.

I envy you retirees. I doubt I will ever enjoy that luxury. The declining stock market hit my retirement fund fairly hard. SSI says I wouldn't be fully vested for full retirement until I'm 70. That will be twenty-one more years of working *argh*

I fear it will be worse for today's youths when they hit retirement age.

Ok....I won't be an old coot (but I think this thread should have been on conversations).
I have had many lives. I have a degree in music education from a religious college in the mountains of NC. After student teaching I realized I didn't like kids.
So, today, I am a semi retired upscale "trend" hair salon owner in Durham. In the past, I have worked for an international color company as an educator for the east coast. My work takes me to Europe once a year and we just got back from Barcelona last week. With my background in music I have worked with Duke Artist Series and the operas and VIPS coming to Duke. I have worked the Chataugua Festival in NY doing hair and makeup for the operas.
I've been semi retired for eight years due to cancer. Jesse and I have been together for 21 years (he says 42) and we plan to retire to my house in Ft. Lauderdale. Not soon enough tho he will never retire. He is a Slavic linguist and works at UNC.
I am also a moderator of a small international org forum not on GW. I am NOT an expert, but a hobbiest with old roses.

Wow interesting thread. Lets see, I think I have a checkered career. I am the oldest of 6 on a farm. As the oldest guess who got to plow the fields with dad! After high school I married right away, then I started out waitressing, did that off and on for a number of years. At the same time I worked in the home decorating field for about 14 years. Quit when my youngest daughter came along. OF course I ran out of money, and needed to suppliment the household income, so I started selling soft sculpture dolls at craft shows. I switched mediums about 17 years ago, and now have my own jewelry company, my work is based on traditional quilt blocks, and I travel all over the country selling my wares.
I work from home, and I tell you some days it's really hard not to sneak out into the garden.

Jenny P

Well I entered the workforce at 16, worked at the local hospital, married when I turned 18 and continued to work until for some reason our family started to increase :o). One of the fortunate ones, I got to be a stay at home mom.
When our kids were all in school I did seasonal work at a nursery, this turned into full time and after 5 years was offered a managerial position. I turned it down to become a full time mom again, 'our kids' are now all teenagers, this should be self explanatory LOL.
I joined a couple of Garden Clubs, took a judging course, judged fair shows, parlor shows, and helped judge several larger shows for over 20 years. I also took the judging course put on by the Pacific North West Dahlia Conference and started out to become a Dahlia judge but this entailed some travel which I wasn't able to do. I retired from judging last summer and now I get to play in the dirt to my hearts content.
After reading all of your accomplishments I had to smile to myself. We who come from all walks of life meet on a common ground to share our love of gardening, it doesn't get any better.

Annette