Friday, November 2, 2012

Day 2 - You, the Personal, & the Professional

You, the Personal, & the Professional. We talk a lot about our personal lives but many of us also have professional lives. Let's assume that our personal and professional lives cross at some point (for some people this happens more than others). Has adoption also affected your professional life? If so, how?

I don’t think adoption has ever affected my professional life. My first job was in a nursing home, both in the kitchen and as a “nurse’s aide” (at the ripe old age of 14!). I then went on to work as an in-home care worker for elderly people, in a group home for handicapped kids and as a nanny. In my early 20s I had a brief stint in restaurants and bartending. And since them I have worked in call centers at a desk job running reports and managing people.

Certainly the topic of adoption comes up in casual conversation with co-workers, and I have had several co-workers from all sides of the triad. I am very “out” as an adoptee… not shy to tell people or bring it up if it’s relevant to the conversation. And as an adoptive parent, I had co-workers watch us go through the process of becoming parents. And here in Canada, we were lucky that we qualified for parental leave after we brought Liam home.

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