People do it every day: uproot and relocate because of work. Sometimes the work moves first--the factory relocates, a new refinery opens. And sometimes the pay and opportunity are simply elsewhere. My dad did it, though only along the New Jersey Turnpike. New York to Philly, then back to New York, and finally (sad and defeated) back to Philly.
I remember being barely tolerated at one school then being moved to the next, where I started again from the bottom of the social order. The fat kid with the crippled arm. A failure at sports. Nonexistent to girls. Private schools, public schools, even a Quaker school for one year. Five in all, between kindergarten and high school. I was that kid who ate lunch alone until Thanksgiving. The kid with a parent's note for gym class.
Once my dad applied for a job at a firm in Detroit, and I remember my mother scouting rents in Grosse Pointe. May as well have been Istanbul or the third moon of Jupiter. I was relieved beyond imagination when that one fell thru. Then there was one in Newark, NJ. But it was an insurance company and he failed the physical because of his heart. That one hurt him--the fact that his talent and expertise weren't worth the risk on his health.
So we went back to Philly. And he enrolled me in prep school. When I learned that school rules required a jacket and tie, I said, "That's ironic because I'll never wear that in real life." My parents were horrified. "Don't you want a CAREER?" asked my mother. "Mom," I said, "I don't even want a job." "You'll be a WARD OF THE STATE!" my mom said. A year later, my dad died of a heart attack. The insurance company had been right after all.
Turns out, my life has been pretty true to my prediction. I've stayed out of offices as much as possible. Have drifted from salesman to stock clerk to proofreader to freelance writer. I own one dress jacket and two ties: one for weddings, one for funerals. I can't picture ever moving for a job, tho my daughter is far more adaptable than I was. If we had to pull up stakes and move, she'd be fine. And anywhere there's a mop or a laptop, I suppose I'd find work.
I remember being barely tolerated at one school then being moved to the next, where I started again from the bottom of the social order. The fat kid with the crippled arm. A failure at sports. Nonexistent to girls. Private schools, public schools, even a Quaker school for one year. Five in all, between kindergarten and high school. I was that kid who ate lunch alone until Thanksgiving. The kid with a parent's note for gym class.
Once my dad applied for a job at a firm in Detroit, and I remember my mother scouting rents in Grosse Pointe. May as well have been Istanbul or the third moon of Jupiter. I was relieved beyond imagination when that one fell thru. Then there was one in Newark, NJ. But it was an insurance company and he failed the physical because of his heart. That one hurt him--the fact that his talent and expertise weren't worth the risk on his health.
So we went back to Philly. And he enrolled me in prep school. When I learned that school rules required a jacket and tie, I said, "That's ironic because I'll never wear that in real life." My parents were horrified. "Don't you want a CAREER?" asked my mother. "Mom," I said, "I don't even want a job." "You'll be a WARD OF THE STATE!" my mom said. A year later, my dad died of a heart attack. The insurance company had been right after all.
Turns out, my life has been pretty true to my prediction. I've stayed out of offices as much as possible. Have drifted from salesman to stock clerk to proofreader to freelance writer. I own one dress jacket and two ties: one for weddings, one for funerals. I can't picture ever moving for a job, tho my daughter is far more adaptable than I was. If we had to pull up stakes and move, she'd be fine. And anywhere there's a mop or a laptop, I suppose I'd find work.
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