[cercis]

I used to work in forestry. I beat my head against the wall for a while and then decided I needed to eat so I trained to be a paralegal. Now I get asked why I don't become an attorney (by every attorney I've worked with). I don't become an attorney because law will always be my second choice. Period.

My DH gets upset because I can't tell him what I want to be. Well, you know what? It's hard to decide what you want to be when you get shut down everytime to you try to get into a "male" career.

Here's what I've noticed in my different jobs. Women have babies and 8x out of 10, they come back to work. Men are less loyal and job hop a lot. Now, I know that's the real way to increase your wages in this world, so I get that. But, men get hired over a woman because that woman might have a baby. Big deal! That man is more than likely going to move to another job within the next 3 years.

I am absolutely done having babies, but no one believes me. And Princess, believe me, even at 4 days overdue with a baby who weighed 9.5lbs, it was still easier than a lifetime of "if only I'd been a man". Unless you've had the unconventional dream, it is hard for you to understand.

I've been butting up against it my whole life. I didn't want to play softball. That stupid ball never got to the plate when it was supposed to. I wanted to play baseball. I had that timing down. But, nope, girls played softball, period. I was decent at football in gradeschool, but girls were cheerleaders not football players. I was NOT good at basketball but kept getting put there when I tried to get into a sport I WAS good at. So I dropped all sports except pickup games with the other kids.

So, my whole life I've been fighting the gender trap.