Started working at age 10, washing dishes in a restaurant (no child labor laws back then, and no mechanical dishwashers either!) Had a slew of jobs as a teen: waitress, car hop, retail, house cleaner, running a mangle in a cleaners, babysitting, cleaning hotel rooms, nurse's aide, seamstress making all my own clothes (including blue jeans) plus selling clothes. I sold mainly formal wear: prom dresses, Bridesmaid dresses, Mother of the Bride and/or Groom, and even a few wedding dresses. Worked my way through college as a seamstress, bar maid, and switchboard operator. Made lots of dresses for all the college formal dances. Only had a "One Stitch" and had to do all my own button holes by hand! Graduated as an RN. Loved the job! Worked full time and went back to school to get a degree in Creative Arts/Fiction Writing. Loved the experience! Kept working full time and eventually went back to school to finish my bachelor's in Nursing. Loved it! Became a supervisor in a Sub-acute Hospital. Adored it! Had so much freedom to help the patient's it was like being a Nurse Practitioner. So I kept working, and went to graduate school to become an Adult Nurse Practitioner. Best thing I ever did! Worked first in an Aids Hospice in Boston. What an incredible experience! Then became Senior Nurse Practitioner in the ENT Department at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Spent 14 years there. Then another 5 years as Senior Nurse Practitioner in the Neurology Department at Gunderson Lutheran in La Crosse, Wisconsin. In snippets, between the other jobs, spent a year in Birmingham, England, teaching Nursing at the University of Birmingham (It was a professor exchange program). Wow, what an experience! Also spent some time doing Urgent care, which was very fast paced, and I loved it. And I spent time on an Indian Reservation, because I was needed, and it was an awesome and eye opening experience. I have been deeply blessed in my profession. After 39 years of full time employment, most of it in those 50-70 hour a week, eat you alive jobs, not to mention working and going to school, I have retired. Now it's time for me, and me wants to quilt!