That's a Job?!!

My 94-year-old mother grew up in a world with a limited number of professions. There were farmers, of course. (She grew up in a farming community.) She knew teachers, doctors, nurses, construction workers, mechanics and mailmen. She realized that there were secretaries, bankers and insurance brokers. But her world view ended with that. So when I (at age 18) told her I'd like to study art, she retorted: That's for rich kids who don't have to earn a living. Art, like music, were hobbies to her. Nobody made a living doing that.

One of my sons recently became a journalist. It is his third career, in a sense. Now 29, he has worked in sales, as a flight attendant - and one summer, in construction. My mother had no problem recognizing any of these jobs as reasonable work for a young man.

Recently, while sitting in a doctor's waiting room with her, I was reading one of my son's articles in MacLean's magazine.

"What are you reading?" she asked.

"MacLean's. In fact, I'm reading an article Aaron wrote on stamp collecting."

"Read it to me."

So I did.

When I finished, she was smiling: "So Aaron wrote that."

"Yes."

"So Aaron writes for MacLean's."

"Yes."

"What else does he do?"

"He doesn't do anything else. That's his job."

"Really?!!" She looked at me in disbelief. "They pay him for writing that?!"