by Linda Joyce

Created on: February 27, 2009   Last Updated: July 14, 2009

Like most of the adult population,I have always worked hard for money, in any job I had. It has never been a picnic or a piece of cake.

For many years, I did secretarial work, which has to be one of the most demeaning, low-paying jobs around. I have learned my lesson over and over that things don't always improve, and there is no guarantee of a good or easy future and just because you are a good and competent worker, it doesn't mean that you will advance or be recognized in any way.

If anyone had told me twenty years ago that I would be in the position I am in now, I would have laughed out loud. As a young woman, I was divorced with a child to raise and juggled long work hours with raising that child and also going to school to gain a college degree. The work was hard, school was hard, and raising a child alone was hard, too.

I did accomplish all of that, but at the time I finally earned my diploma, we were in a time of recession and it was not easy to find a good job with benefits and a good salary. I took what I could get and stayed in a job I hated for about a year-and-a-half.

Eventually, I did get a better job and I thought it would be the job I would stay in until retirement because, you see, I had been hired by the federal government. What a thrill! I thought my financial worries were over, only to be down-sized less than two years later. Who knew?

After some job training and a few false starts, I found another permanent full-time job in a municipal government setting, which I stayed with for almost six years. This time it was my fault when the separation occurred. Although I was living in a setting that would seem to most people like paradise (California's central coast), I was restless and longed for more excitement in my work and in my life.

I moved again, a very bad move for me, to Washington state. It was quite difficult to find work by this time, even though the economy was not as bad as it is today in 2009. I finally obtained work in the Marketing Department of a large assisted living facility. It was a hectic job, but we had a good team, which helped tremendously. Nevertheless, I worked very hard, spent a lot of time on my feet, and didn't make a great salary. So much for finding more excitement in my life.

Once again, I knew I had to make a change, this time, hopefully, for the better. Unfortunately, it hasn't been better, but much, much worse. I moved to a small town in North Carolina because of affordable housing prices, and although

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