I went out for dinner tonight with some people from high school. For those of you who know, it was Finseth, Hunecke and Tulgren. It was a pretty good time...we went to that Mexican place in Lakeville, Theresa's and had margaritas and dinner. But, once again, I was slapped in the face that basically everyone I know gets paid about twice as much as me, or will when they graduate from grad school. Nobody flaunts it in my face or anything...or tells me directly what they make. It's obvious.
The same thing happened about a month ago when I went to a going-away party in Iowa. We were eating supper and having a few pitches of beer, and someone said, "The person who makes the most buys the next round." Yeah, guess what...I make less than even my friend that works for the State of Iowa as a social worker. Sweet. Gotta love that.
But you know what? I really have no choice. I'm fine with what I make, because I do what I love. And I knew that going into my career choice -- that it didn't exactly pay well. I've come to realize that our lives (as trite as this may sound) really are like the game of life. We're given a card that says what our career will be. Ok, yes, we all can jump from career to career. But I'm saying we're given a card that says what our CHOICE career will be. When I hear about my friends working at a bank, or as a police officer or working at a chemical plant or at a biotech place or as a software programer, I think to myself, "My GOD! I would HATE that job!" And that's when I know that pay really doesn't matter.
If making money mattered to me, I would've forced myself into being a bio major, hating every moment of it, going to med school, and despising every single hour of my meaningless working life. Instead I enjoyed college and I enjoy my job, even though it's still not what I want to be doing. But you know what? If I would've been a bio major, there is absolutely no way that I could've landed the job that I have.
And so I drive off to my parent's home in my '93 Buick until I can afford to move out and maybe someday get to buy a new car. And I'm fine with that. Are you?
