Sunday, July 27, 2008

Random Things About Me

Vapor trails over the lake


I am taking Aiyana's advice and I'm doing the 6 random things about myself meme. Here goes:


My very first paying job was in the late 1960s at an AT&T manufacturing plant.
After about 3 years of doing a "woman's job" and seeing the men making more money with less seniority, my sister started fighting for the rights of women to work at the traditional "men's jobs". Of course, I joined in the fight. We won, and I became the first female forklift driver at the plant. I had to prove myself and I became the best driver. It wasn't easy, and the guys didn't like it, but I was working to make money, not to please a bunch of MSPs! It was a different world then. Nowadays, if women had to put up with the stuff that those guys dished out back in the day, they'd be rich from suing for sexual harrassment!




Later, after a time at home, I saw an ad in the paper under "Men Wanted" for a job. Can you believe that ad was legal back then?
I applied and convinced the manager I was as good a worker as any man, and he hired me as the first woman cabinet maker at a mobile home manufacturing plant. Of course, this was also a fight. After proving I could do the job and do it well, they opened all the jobs to women!




I volunteered for 7 years as a rescue unit worker
. The unit was a small van, and all you needed to volunteer was a First Aid Card. Before that the only rescue vehicle was the local hearse--the funeral director would pick up patients and deliver them either to the hospital or morgue! Talk about a scary times! We covered hundreds of miles and if the accident was 250 miles from Phoenix, the closest hospital would be in California. This was the early 1970s. Finally, after about a year we finally got a state-of-the-art ambulance and I received EMT training and certification. During that time I delivered 7 babies. Two were home births, one in a doctor's office and 4 in the ambulance. I loved every minute of it. I then became Head Dispatcher for police, fire and rescue. I loved living on the edge and knowing about everything going on in our small town! I went to the Police Academy and became a Certified Police Officer. I was in the thick of it all. I did all three at the same time.




I've fulfilled two of my childhood dreams.
As a child living in a rural farm area devoid of entertainment, once a week we would go to the train depot to watch the passenger trains passing through. The dining cars were my favorite. As they would pass by, passengers would wave to us. I dreamed of doing that someday. Some 45 years later, I sat in a dining car on the Starlight Express going to Canada to watch Phantom of the Opera. I waved to all the people at the crossings and remembered that little girl that was me many years before. Another childhood dream was to go to Switzerland, and I went twice. My first trip was filled with unbelievable coincidences that are mind boggling. That's another story for another day....



A dream not fulfilled and hoping to someday
is to have a tree house. Not the kid kind, the kind one lives in. I always look for the perfect tree no matter where I go. There are really not many suitable trees in AZ. The best I've found so far are in Oregon! Someday.... It has to be soon though, as I won't be able to climb in a few years, I'm afraid. But, I am keeping up with my leg presses, waiting for that perfect tree!

3 comments:

Julie said...

OMG...what a woman you are! You go, girl!!! LOL. I am seriously amazed at all you have done! I am so glad you got to go to Switzerland, and can you tell us the rest of the story on that? I would love to hear it! I, too, love treehouses. Did you know they have them to stay in at Disney World in Orlando??? I believe they are 2-3 bedroom ones! I always wanted to stay there, but they are quite expensive!

Aiyana said...

Glad to see you did the meme. Do you really think you would move to live in a tree house?
Aiyana

Pudgeduck said...

Julie- went to Disney World only once-years ago-didn't know that. There are also tree houses for rent in Oregon- Once I missed a reservation due to bad timing. My stays have only been in been in the dream state!
Aiyana-ABSOLUTLY!