Early on in high school, I worked on a farm for a summer, doing odd jobs and mowing grass. I vaguely remember the first paycheck– a relative pittance, but it was my first legitimate paycheck. Then it was on to a restaurant part time through the later high school years and for summers during college– dishwashing, short order cook, prep work, occasional busboy. I also started working at a corrugated container manufacturer towards the end of college.

I substitute taught for a year or so after college graduation, then it was back to the corrugated container factory, working various shifts, including the “graveyard” shift (11-7), which I did for ten months before deciding it was an assault on circadian rhythms and wasn’t gonna work for me.

The closure of the container factory precipitated a bit of downtime, i.e unemployment, so I got into a bench assembly training program and was able to get a job at a company that made high-powered CO2 lasers. It was probably the best job I’ve had– fascinating technology, interesting work and people to work with.

In the early 90s, I left the laser company and we headed to seminary in Gettysburg, PA. I spent the next 26 years after graduation as an employee of the church, pastoring a total of three congregations, technically speaking, during that time (my first call became a consolidation of two congregations that ended up staying in the building and changing its name).

Since retiring, I’ve occasionally helped my son with his landscaping business.

And once a parent, always a parent.