Creating A Different Ending - Part 2

If my education wasn't what I expected, neither was the education of my friends, either.  Those who went into graduate programs complained about the complete lack of anything resembling a life, their inability to afford a child or a house, and the constant moving around from temporary lecture job to temporary lecture job.  Those who took a B.Ed. and became teachers found themselves largely unemployed, or employed by one of the big school boards on a part-time basis, teaching only a class or two.  Several ended up doing what I was doing, working a retail job, despite their qualifications.  Many worked and took out loans until they joked that they would never be out of debt.

I was fortunate that after that third year of college I didn't take out any more loans and paid for any further courses in cash, and so my loans, which seemed huge to me, were nothing compared to the money owed by my peers.

I found myself, at the age of 29, in a new province, armed with my degree.  Getting a job, I had been assured, wouldn't be a problem, except that it was.  Regardless of my education I couldn't even seem to get a part-time administrative job for almost two years.  Eventually I resorted to volunteering in an office to try and get some 'hands-on' experience, and once the secretary I was working with left, I was offered her job.  My degree did practically nothing to help me with working a 'grown-up' job.  Although I'd heard that administrative work was a field many English graduates went into, I was unhappy.  I didn't want to be a secretary, I wanted something else, but I still didn't know what that was.

In the meantime, our family was growing.  We had our son in 2010 and our daughter is due in April of 2012.  David was also working towards becoming an ordained minister.  We agreed that once this elusive job happened, if I felt that I was supposed to return to school part-time I could go.  We felt strongly that any further debt should not be entered into at this point in our lives since I was at the very end of paying off my student loans for my first degree, but I was faced, at the age of 30, with deciding all over again what I was supposed to do with my education, if anything.

I explored a variety of options, including several diplomas and certificates that would give me various qualifications, but came away feeling unfulfilled about each of them, and only after several months of searching, thinking and praying about my options could I figure out why that was.

I'll keep you on your toes until part 3!