Conversation

Some days I think if it weren’t for our cats my husband and I would have nothing to talk about. After twenty one years of marriage, we’ve covered every subject; I know all of his stories and he knows all of mine. Are we doomed to spend the rest of our days talking about the weather and discussing how many times Kitty and Misty puked on the rug today?

Some nights he comes home from work and asks the cat how her day was and, based on her facial expression and body language, I will answer for her.

Hubby: How was your day, Misty?

Me: It was pretty good. I slept on this nice soft bed and then I ran into the living room for no apparent reason.

Hubby: Want to play with this string?

Me: No thanks, I’m resting. All that running wore me out.

How pathetic is that? And yes, he asks the cats about their day before he asks me about mine.

I know it’s natural to fall into comfortable silence with your spouse, but I wasn’t prepared to play second fiddle to my cats.

They should really warn you about this sort of thing before you get married.

Career? What Career?

My husband earns a good living doing something he enjoys. His career is in IT (that’s Information Technology for us non-computer types).

I have no career direction. Maybe this is because I’ve never had a job I really loved. I’m not opposed to an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay, but does it have to be tedious and boring? Also, I hate getting bossed around and bosses seem to live for that sort of thing.

Over the years I’ve tried many things; data entry, bookkeeping, customer service, retail, banking, child-care, etc. When I was twenty, I had a job in a movie theater but I always went home smelling like popcorn. That got old really fast.

I’ve taken college courses and done volunteer work in an attempt to find my calling, but to no avail. Nothing has tickled my fancy. Experts say you should do what you love and the money will follow. But what do I love to do?

My Myers-Briggs personality type is ISFJ. Introverted, Sensing, Feeling and Judging. When I took the assessment, the results came with career suggestions. Health care and education were listed as promising the highest possibility for career satisfaction. I have no interest in math or science, so medicine is out, and I have no patience for a room full of other people’s children, so teaching is out. Needless to say, I find these test results unhelpful.

I don’t want to sell things, work outdoors, climb ladders, give injections, or spend my days strapped to a desk and a phone; and I don’t want to spend my days being nice to rude people just because the boss is watching. There are plenty of things I don’t want to do, but so far this hasn’t helped me determine what I do want to do.

The good news is eventually I’ll be old enough to retire.