Skip to main content

Careers

By
"So I've got a friend, who I met at Frys. He's an older guy. He's got a car he wants to give me and soon he's starting a business so when I'm 18 and a half or 19 I think I'm going to move out and move in with him and work for him."
"Doing what?"
"I don't really know but he's going to have this business."
"OK. Well, good luck with that. Get it in writing and get a title for the car."

I walked away just shaking my head. Silently I thought "At least he didn't tell me he's going to become a rapper. He might as well though... A couple hours later I talked with him again.

"OK, so I've been texting him and finding out more about this job."
"OK."
"So he's going to be a rapper. And he says we'll find something for me to do, something I'm good at. Something that will make me $1,000 a day and I can probably start doing it from home--maybe finding new beats online."
"And how old is this friend?"
"In his 30s."
"And how many rappers do you know?"
"A few."
"It's a tough business to get into."
"Well I'm still going to have his back on it."

Sometimes J fits into statistics and stereotypes so well it's laughable. And you do have to laugh. I have to laugh. I'd worry about this plan if he were planning on moving out tomorrow but he's giving himself a year or two to get things in order--and J has never stuck with anything for more than a month so I'm hopeful this too will fade.

To be honest this career path is just as realistic as his ideas in the past. He wants to be an engineer. Of course he's terrible at math and school in general. We recently had to talk him out of quitting school to get his GED and go to work full time--an idea he had despite not being able to even find a part time job. He also showed some interest in HVAC--until he found out he has to improve his attendance, behavior and his grades to get into that program.

I try not to use this to shame J in any way. If he were to read it some day I hope he would agree with everything I've written about him. I just have to record this conversation so that when he does finally find motivation to find a career that works for him we can look back at this and laugh and laugh. Some day when he stops sleeping in and blowing off school and realizes it really does take hard work to get where you want to be--I want him to remember that lost boy who sought out every easy opportunity and thought all his problems would be solved if he became a rapper's assistant.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My biggest challenge

By
I’m a writer by trade. I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I love to put my feelings into words. Yet, in the last month, I’ve been having a very difficult time vocalizing what’s happening in my life. It’s not because it’s been sad or difficult or anything like that. It’s mostly because there is someone new in my life who I care very deeply for who I feel this deep need to protect. I want to protect his identity, his story, his life. I don’t want to overstep any boundaries or crush any trust. I recognize the life he has lived has not been easy and so I tread lightly on this relationship we’ve built. But honestly—it’s a fantastic relationship. He’s an amazing kid. I’ve been asked to write a blog post for an organization that helps recruit foster parents about the first few weeks of being a foster parent. I’m having difficulty deciding what to write. I feel like anything I write about my case probably won’t apply to their case so it’s not very helpful. I keep writing drafts and then...
Post a Comment
Read more

Summer time

By
This summer is flying by! I've been taking Kaybree to the same sitter every day since 10 weeks old when I went back to work, Shaunelle Eyestone. You are their 5th kid. But with four kids of her own home all summer and a new baby coming along Shaunelle asked to go to part time this summer. Luckily we have awesome family near by willing to help me out and watch you girls! Grandma Bonnie has been taking you two days a week and says it's the best part of her week. She loves it! She's a substitute teacher during the school year so she has the summer off. She's so sweet to watch you both for free. It's also giving you a chance to get to know John better as Bonnie asks him to help out each day. He's learning more about babies and you're opening up to him more. It's sweet to see. Fridays Aunt Brittany takes the two of you for free. Her kids basically just spoil you both all day. They argue over whose turn it is to hold Eisley and Kaybree basically becomes th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jumping to conclusions

By
I think we, as a society, are always prepared to jump to the worst conclusions about kids like J. That includes me.  We recently found out he accepted cigarettes from a friend. Knowing just that, we assumed he smoked them. He swears he didn't smoke them but asked for them so he could give them to another friend--to get him to stop smoking weed. As dumb as that sounds, I believe him. Now. But at first, and I think reasonably so, I didn't. We jumped to the conclusion that he was smoking. We got upset that it felt like he was hiding it from us. He has no idea why we would jump to that conclusion. He doesn't understand that he put himself in that situation. He doesn't understand why we would think he is smoking. He got mad at us for assuming the worst. We did the same thing several days earlier when it was getting late and he wasn't home and also wasn't answering his phone. I thought back to everything we had disagreed about. I feared he had run away. I feared h...
Post a Comment
Read more