And in the beginning there was a stupid woman .....

So at the grand age of 30 something (ok the something is a double figure, but it’s still a something), I decided that it was time to get the old brain cells working again. After all, one of the kids has managed to cut the apron string, the other kid is shredding her string with her teeth. I was running out of excuses. When I should have been at university I wasn’t interested, I just wanted to get out there and earn some money. I had dreams of owning property, making my millions, and retiring at 50. Then along came the husband, and then the kids (and how pleased was my mother that I got that in the right order), and then the dogs, and the bills, and somehow the ability to absorb any more knowledge got lost in the piles of ironing and the pursuit of happiness in the pursuit of keeping within a budget for the weekly shop.

Then I walked into Central Library in Christchurch, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I want a job here said I. Ha! Said everyone else. You in a library? You have to keep quiet in those places! The same people had been known to say Ha! New Zealand? You must be crazy! And I smile to myself when I post my beautiful NZ scenery pictures on Facebook for them to drool over.

And, being a curious person, though some may say nosy, I’m not content to settle for seeing the books get issued and returned and go back on the shelves, I want to know why and when and how and if not, why not. I’ve been really fortunate to have jobs I’ve loved, and jobs that have challenged me, but none of them have made me want to dig and question and understand and process it all and take it apart and put it all together again in my head like this job has.

So I’ve gone back to studying. It’s only the Level 5/6 Diploma in Information and Library Studies, it’s only part time, but for someone who’s raised a family, dragged that family 12,000 miles, said goodbye to friends and family, changed career, taken on a 27 year mortgage a year ago, and somehow still managed to keep her sanity, it’s a huge leap of faith to tempt fate into nudging me over the edge when really what I should be doing is buying myself a sun hat, crocs, nana-pants and a gardening basket and taking it easy at weekends. Having struggled through one paper, I know how time consuming and intense and difficult it is to juggle it all, but, as one career guru told me, I’m a completer finisher, and I’m determined to do well in it. I think completer finisher is guru speak for stubborn git.

Oh, and I’d really like to earn more money, and I’m at the top of my grade and I’d really like to move up. Did I forget to say that?