It's all Dad's fault
I was recently thinking about the fact that I tend to move around a lot. Not that I fidget or squirm, but that, other than the 6+ years I lived in the house in Richardson, I've never lived in any one abode for more than 2-3 years. Ever. It even affects my work. I've never held a position for more than 2 years, give or take a month or two. (Yes, I know I worked at Kinko's for 9+ years, but during that time I actually worked for 3 different companies doing business as Kinko's. I also worked at 6 different locations, and changed job responsibilities 8 different times.) The reason I was thinking about it is that Tuesday, August 30th was my 1-year anniversary at TR, and I'm beginning to feel restless. Part of it is that, at the age of 37, I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up. I'm happy that Cynthia has plans to go back to school to get her MBA. After she gets it, her income should increase dramatically, and after a year, she can look elsewhere to increase it even more. That means that I'll be able to either cut back to part-time, or even possibly quit entirely, and go back to school full-time and get my degree. The problem is that I have no idea what to get it in, but that's another post for another time. I know that I have about 3 years or so before I have to figure it out.
As I was saying, I think I figured it out. When I was growing up, the longest my family lived in any one home was 3 years. The longest we lived in any one community was 4 years. I attended 11 different schools from Kindergarten through graduation (I was the lucky one, both of my brothers attended 13). I spent 2nd grade in 3 different schools. The pattern of moving continued after I left home. I spent 9 months in Florida, followed by 6 months in Wisconsin, then a year and a half in Los Angeles. Since moving to Dallas in 1989, I've lived in 10 different apartments/houses/lofts. Since HS (almost 20 years), I've had 11 jobs.
It's my opinion that the reason I get restless after a year or two of working at a job or living in a place is because my dad moved us around so much. It wasn't because he was military (he wasn't), or that he had a job that required him to move often (he didn't). He just moved us around a lot.
This isn't to say that I'm not happy with where I live, or working where I do. To the contrary, I enjoy my job, I love my home, and I really like my 5-minute walk between the two. I just hope that someday I'll figure out what I want to do, and get a job doing it. At the same time, I want to find a place to live long-term. I know we'll be living in this loft for at least 2-3 years, because the school Cynthia will go to is a block & a half away. After that, who knows?
As I was saying, I think I figured it out. When I was growing up, the longest my family lived in any one home was 3 years. The longest we lived in any one community was 4 years. I attended 11 different schools from Kindergarten through graduation (I was the lucky one, both of my brothers attended 13). I spent 2nd grade in 3 different schools. The pattern of moving continued after I left home. I spent 9 months in Florida, followed by 6 months in Wisconsin, then a year and a half in Los Angeles. Since moving to Dallas in 1989, I've lived in 10 different apartments/houses/lofts. Since HS (almost 20 years), I've had 11 jobs.
It's my opinion that the reason I get restless after a year or two of working at a job or living in a place is because my dad moved us around so much. It wasn't because he was military (he wasn't), or that he had a job that required him to move often (he didn't). He just moved us around a lot.
This isn't to say that I'm not happy with where I live, or working where I do. To the contrary, I enjoy my job, I love my home, and I really like my 5-minute walk between the two. I just hope that someday I'll figure out what I want to do, and get a job doing it. At the same time, I want to find a place to live long-term. I know we'll be living in this loft for at least 2-3 years, because the school Cynthia will go to is a block & a half away. After that, who knows?
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I was thinking about it, and maybe it's your dad's fault, but not in the way you think. Maybe it's not because he moved you around that makes you restless easy (nurture). Maybe you inherited your father's restless nature (nature).
That's possible, except that raises a couple of questions:
1. Where did his restless nature come from? He lived in 4 homes from birth to HS graduation, 3 of them on the same lot (trailer, garage home, house). In the same amount of time, I lived in at least 16.
2. If he has such a restless nature, why has he lived in the same house since 1987?
As for job hopping, there's a possibility that he 'learned' that from his father. Grandpa was a carpenter and would have changed jobs a lot. But then, he (Dad) worked for BSSDI from 1984-1999, when he retired. The only change that occured during that time was they relocated their offices from the West Side to just east of Downtown Madison.
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1. Where did his restless nature come from? He lived in 4 homes from birth to HS graduation, 3 of them on the same lot (trailer, garage home, house). In the same amount of time, I lived in at least 16.
2. If he has such a restless nature, why has he lived in the same house since 1987?
As for job hopping, there's a possibility that he 'learned' that from his father. Grandpa was a carpenter and would have changed jobs a lot. But then, he (Dad) worked for BSSDI from 1984-1999, when he retired. The only change that occured during that time was they relocated their offices from the West Side to just east of Downtown Madison.
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