Huh?

Was having lunch with my sister and niece a couple weeks ago, and suddenly I said I was thinking of going back to school. I think I was as surprised as my lunch companions.

For many years I have been encouraging/suggesting that my oldest son might want to seek a career in something that involved people, given the outgoing and friendly guy he can so often be. (During his teens this side of him is directed mostly to his peers - parents, teachers, and other grownups will often miss it.) A legal career (which would also make use of his considerable bargaining and argumentative skills), a career in psychiatry or psychology, political science, history, anthropology, or social work. The length of schooling and depth of commitment (read: high school transcripts) required for each of these kind of follows a slowly downward path, and reflects his gradual loss of interest in, and success at academics. Nevertheless, though 'father knows best' what his children ought to pursue career-wise (his younger brothers have also been hearing what they would do best at), my encouragement has been all but ignored.

However, turns out that somebody was listening: me! I'm thinking of pursuing a second career in social work, possibly specializing in grief counseling. I am looking for a nearby volunteer opportunity, a chance to see counseling in action, dip my toes in the water, so to speak. I just printed out a volunteer application form for the Wendt Center ("For Loss and Healing"), a non-profit located in northwest D.C. I took the boys there a couple times on the suggestion of a friend a few years back. They would also like to see a resumé. Time to dust an old one off, and add my longest job of all: fifteen years keeping my kids from killing each other, or themselves, 24/7.

Then again, maybe I could become a neurology researcher and figure this MS riddle out once and for all. Or, perhaps anthropology would be more my cup of tea.

Wait, need to focus for a bit, one thing at a time...