The Best Job I Ever Had

No pay, very little stress and a lot of fun

As part of my refusal to let my disability hinder my commitment to being the best mom I could for my kids, I volunteered to work at the school library when each of them were in kindergarten through third grade. I wasn’t sure when I signed up if the physical demands would be too much for me, but I took the chance and was very glad I did.

I knew that I would mostly be seated at the desk where the students came to check out books. I was good at sitting and knew how to use a computer. I had some concern about not having the use of my left hand to do the job, but I knew I would figure it out as I had everything else in life over five years of becoming disabled eight weeks before my youngest son was born.

The librarian was a professional woman who had worked at the school for a long portion of her career. She took her job seriously and was dedicated. Mrs. M. was fascinated by the story of how I became disabled by a stroke while I was pregnant with my younger son. She made an effort to accommodate me by asking the other volunteers to shelve the books that were returned so I could sit at the desk and check out books because of my limited mobility.

It was sort of exciting for my kids to see me go to “work”, since I had been disabled for their entire lives. It was…