Did something today I haven't done in almost 10 years

I went on a job interview.

Let's back up a little bit. I've been at home with the boys since a little while before Ryan was born. Being at home was not part of our plan. I worked in Marketing at the same company where Dan worked, and the plan was for me to work from home four days a week, then come in to the office one day and Dan would swap at home duty. We lived about 15 minutes away from work, so Dan could drive to work with the baby so I could nurse easily.

And then I was laid off. Staring down at my very large, obviously pregnant belly, I asked the HR guy who exactly he thought would hire me. He hemmed and hawed and mumbled something about it not being legal to discriminate, all with this slightly embarrassed smile on his face.

I looked for work and found not a thing. Did some freelance graphics work when Ryan was still tiny but soon found he needed constant attention. I even tried going in to do graphics work and leaving him with a friend of mine, but he was inconsolable. So home I stayed. I had a home business for a few years making baby slings, but as it got larger it got overwhelming to handle. I've sold soaps and bartered knitted and sewn goods. But that's been about it for the past few years. I needed to be at home, so that's where I was.

Now the boys are both in school, and I'd been thinking a bit about what to do next. My mother in law was job searching and came across an ad for "Autism Family Consultant" over at OHSU. Perfect! I've worked for years researching Autism because of Ryan and I already try to help other families who have children on the spectrum any chance I get. I pulled out a dusty copy of my resume and updated it, wincing at just how long it had been since I'd done anything that was easy to describe. Then Dan had the brilliant idea of adding in "Advocate" as my most recent job title, since and trying to find my way around services has been exactly what I've been doing for years for Ryan. Well, all right then. Wasn't paid, but it certainly has been a job.

Bought myself a blazer and some nice pants and proceeded to freak out. It dawned on me that I haven't been on an interview in almost ten years. And this one was in front of a committee. As in, a bunch of people all focusing on me. Ack! What if I said something stupid? What traffic was bad and I got there late? What if they didn't like me?

The interview was at 9:00 this morning and so was I. At the end of the interview, one of the committee members mentioned something about my "poise" and how "well spoken" I was (!!). I'll find out by the end of next week if I got the job.

But for now, I got through the interview well. That's enough for one day, I think.