waves, I'm afraid I can be of little use to you with regards to career choices. I can, tho offer my support, and encourage you to follow your gut, your instincts, so to speak, and see what happens. You are fortunate that you are currently living with your parents, and that should take some of the financial worries away and make things easier for you, financially, that is. I hope you can figure out the best road for you. Think on it awhile, and follow your heart and instincts.

I'm still relatively young (59), but due to the tragic events of January, both my husband and I retired. He had worked in his job for nearly 32 years, while I, on the other hand, had several different 'career paths' in my working life. I worked with children as a teacher's aide, and then a pre-school teacher, for ten years, then kind of switched gears and started working in the medical field, in medical records, and then working in a doctor's office. Sadly, the best job, the one I enjoyed the most, and the pay was great, but it was a hard, stressful job due to quotas, etc. It took me most of my life to get a job eith the state, but then I finally did, working for the State, but also considered a 'federal' employee, working for the Social Security Administration. The jobs I've had were different from each other, but I'm glad that I finally worked for the State. I really enjoyed helping disabled people obtain disability, if they qualified. I do have chronic pain, tho, which made getting up for work each day, working, and then having anything left at the end of the day was very difficult. I'm happy to be retired, but am anxious for DH to come home and join me; I didn't think I'd be going this road alone .

Oops, off topic again. I wish you all the best, and I believe that you'll be successful in whichever path you decide on. Keep us in the loop, and try not to worry about 'making a mistake or the wrong choice. You seem like a very strong, intelligent person.