Thoughts of Watermelon

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Today for lunch I was enjoying a couple of chicken egg rolls. For some reason as I was eating, I began to think about watermelon, I can’t say as I have ever eaten watermelon after eating egg rolls. My thinking sometimes gets a bit weird.

Thinking of watermelon led me to think about all the jobs I had before retiring and there were many. I can remember 17 and they are not all doing the same thing. Some I very much disliked and others I enjoyed.

My first job was running a candy stand with my sister. My sister and a friend from church is in the photo. The candy was given to us to sell by a friend of my mothers.

My second job was babysitting I don’t remember exactly how old I was when I first started, but it was possibly 12 or 13 years old.

My third job was again with my sister. Our stepdad decided he wanted a watermelon stand. After it was built he left my sister and I to run the place.

We had fun selling whole watermelons to go and watermelon slices that people could take with them or if they chose to, they could sit at one of the tables and eat there at the stand. Our fun was short-lived we had not been there long before a tornado hit. We were scared and no one came to help us. Thankfully we were not injured, and the watermelon stand never opened again.

I learned a lot from all the places I worked, but I learned much more when I was a caregiver. Several years I worked for pay, thirty-six years I was a caregiver with no pay eighteen years for the state and eighteen years for family members.

Those years with no pay were amazing and so fulfilling, I knew I was where I was born to be. I worked alongside doctors, nurses, judges, politicians, other caregivers, social workers, attorneys, foster parents and many other people.

Now that I am retired and think back on the first eighteen of those years, I know I could not have done what I did alone. My dear husband was wonderful to help as were the older children. The second eighteen years were spent caring for my amazing, loving husband and some family members.

Most of all I know without a doubt what I always told people that asked how I could do what I was doing my answer was always “I am the feet and hands; Jesus does the rest.”

What is or has been your most enjoyable work?

43 thoughts on “Thoughts of Watermelon”

  1. I loved reading your post, Mags. I am sure you were amazing at all of your jobs – especially as a care giver. Retiring from the watermelon sales job during tornado season was probably a wise decision.
    Mostly, I did administration work for small private companies (restaurants and construction). The job I enjoyed the most was working nights at a donut shop for a year to earn the money for the down payment on a house that my first husband and I built when our kids were young. That job was fun and I loved going home at the end of the shift with a clear mind. Like you, the work that was the most rewarding for me was the work I was not paid for – being a homemaker, a mother, a major support to my parents in their final years, a very active part of my daughter’s children’s lives when they were young, and just the opportunity to help so many people that I worked for, and with over the years.

  3. I babysat as a teenager. When I started nurse’s training I worked as a nurse tech in the intensive care nursery. As an RN I worked in medical surgical for a year until I married my husband and we moved to New Orleans. There I worked mostly cardiac floors until I started working in a CCU/ICU and from there I worked in Mississippi, South Carolina, Western, and Central North Carolina. I worked 17 years of my 37 year career in CCU/ICUs. The rest was mostly heart patients. I loved nursing but when my back told me to stop, I knew it was time to retire. I am loving my lretirement life.

  4. What a productive and fulfilling life you’ve had. You can justly look back with satisfaction on a life that has added value to others which is the most important accomplishment anyone can make in life 🙂

    • I have been blessed beyond measure Ian. I treasure the memories of the times with all the wonderful children and people I had the pleasure to know and spend time with. Keep those great stories going my sweet friend.

    • You are right about the amazing experiences Anita. I am just thankful for all those jobs and the wonderful people I had the pleasure of meeting and spending time with. I have many treasured memories.

  6. Love this post, Sis. I’m one of the many who has felt your strength and care. Thank you for being a part of my life. Huge hugs ❤

  7. Such a nice story about your working life. I commend you for being a caregiver. I was in the Air Force for a few years. We moved to the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona after we were discharged from the service. We spent 18 years living ther. I was an educational secretary and switched around to each grade level. I loved the little elementary children the most. My husband worked as maintenance foreman at the Indian hospital. When we moved to Arkansas we were caregivers for my husband’s parents for several years – then we were caregivers for three years for my younger brother, who had dementia. I know it was an act of love on your part to care for your husband for so many years. God bless you for chosing to help others.

    • Thank you Peggy for sharing this and bless you and your husband for all you did to care for your brother. As you know my husband had dementia so I can understand some of how your life was when you were caring for your brother. There is a huge place in my heart for the Indians, I would have loved working on a reservation. Again thank you for sharing I enjoyed reading your comment very much. Hugs and blessings sweet Peggy.

      • Thank you for all your nice comments Mags. I wrote a book about my experience as a caregiver to my brother. My granddaughted had it published on Amazon Kindle. I thought it might help dementia caregivers. My daughter chose the title of my book. It was : “Dementiia’s Altered Reality”

      • I worked with Native youth for two years, as a teacher’s aide. It was a very special time of learning. I have a heart for them. Friends of the Pineridge Reservation is a website where one can view needs and contribute. Besides So. Dakota the have expanded to Arizona needs. It’s pretty great!

        • I have known about the Pineridge Reservation website for several years. It is wonderful that we have ways to help in any way that we can. Blessings and love to you!

  8. I was an ICU?CCU nurse for 17 years from New Orleans, to Columbia, MIss, to Greenville, SC, to Rutherfordton, NC. I loved the bedside nursing aspect of it more than anything. I liked to get to know my patients and figure out how best to make them comfortable. The other 17 years were on mostly cardiac patient floors. I enjoyed the monitors and knowing when a patient had a heart problem to take care of. I loved being a nurse.

    • You and all the nurses are such a blessing to us all. Caring for babies on heart monitors I could not have done with out the wonderful nurses who helped and taught me so much. Thank you for all you did to help so many.

      • Mags, nursing came quite naturally to me. My grandmother was trained by the neighborhood doctor. My mother went into nurse’s training and my cousin, sister and I went to nursing school. My cousin’s father was a medic in WWII. My brother was an EMS. My sister’s daughter is also a nurse. I knew as a child that I was called to be a nurse. Gee, I should write a blog post about this! Thank you, dear friend.

        • I enjoyed reading about your experiences. Babysitting was my first job. I think I was twelve. There were a couple of families that kept me busy. I did experience being a home health aide for awhile. I worked with special needs children for years. It takes ❤️, kindness, patience and compassion. You had what it took Mags. And like you said, what you couldn’t do, you had a helper.. 🤗

          • Thank you for sharing. I am glad you enjoyed reading my post. Special needs children are such a blessing, they are amazing. Thank you for your kind words. ❤

  9. This was an enjoyable read about your life, Mags. I was still working full time when it came time to care for Dad and Mom, and my retired sister took on that job as she also lived in the same town. I was 13 hours away, but I went home often to help out or to relieve her while she took a week off. I learned much, and found many blessings in that 7 years. I had many jobs prior to becoming a social worker, and though the places were different (I worked 5 places as a social worker over 30 years), I enjoyed all of them. I probably learned the most in the last one, working in Mississippi. It was hard, but I am grateful for what I learned that I would not have known but for coming here.

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