1996 - The Next Career Move

By 1996, I had been at the security guard company for 3 years. I learned that this was about 2 years and 335 more days than my kind gentleman co-workers had bet that I would have lasted. I was a female in a world of ex military, and cop wanta be types. I did not fit the mold of previous HR managers, who had worked their way up the ranks. In addition, I was unaware for a while, but my HR Assistant was bitter about not being offered the job herself, and she was secretly plotting my demise for the first year or so, planning to make mistakes and blame me, etc. Nothing really worked, but it all added character, and made me more determined to succeed. Though I never really fit their mold, these tough men that I worked with eventually did come to respect me, and that was all that I could ask.

I had now been married to John for almost 2 years, and we were having a blast.

It was this year, that I was almost finished with my Master's in HR degree, and would be ready for that next career step soon. It was also this year, when my husband came home and informed me that he had taken the LSAT and would be applying for Law School. Screech... I thought he already had his graduate degree. In all of the years we had been together, I did not know that he wanted to go to school for so long. We had been together for 7 years, and one or both of us had always been in school. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, had visions of buying a house and settling down, and he now informed me that he was ready to go BACK to school?

As time went by, I accepted his goal for law school and thanked my lucky stars that we could do this now, and not later in some mid-life crisis when we have a mortgage and kids, etc. I was on board. I did put my foot down on his plot to go to Tulane and New Orleans, because the job market there was not good for my career. This was our first difficult conflict in our marriage, but thankfully, he had another great option. I would just have to pray that he did well in school, so that the end result would be success and I would not somehow be responsible for a goal not met because I didn't want to live in New Orleans. I would have lived there if I could have just relaxed and sipped hurricanes the whole time, but I was not encouraged by the job market, and I knew I would not make a good poor student's wife. We were not rich, by any stretch, but my days of ramen noodles were already passed and I wanted a little more by now.

I was not able to finish my Master's before we had to move to Dallas for his start at SMU law school, but I was close enough that I could finish my last couple of courses in Dallas and still finish within a year. My Dallas job search was very successful, and I had many great job choices. I would be able to support us (at least our roof and food, that is). Life was good!