Message #61700

[spitfire78]

When I graduated from high school in 1978, it was with the intention of being a "secretary".  I had always assumed I would work until I got married and had kids at which time I would become a stay-at-home mom.  Well, as life turned out, I never married and never had kids, so my "job" did indeed turn into a career.  For a long time I never had any desire to move upward because I kept thinking I would quit one day.  As time went on and I realized kids weren't going to happen, I started to think about moving up.  However, there is only so far that I want to go.  I'm in my absolute dream job right now.  My boss asked me if I would want to take her job when she retired because she thought I'd be perfect for it.  But my answer was a resounding "NO".  By the time she retires in possibly 5 or 6 years, I will be over 50.  At that point in my life, there is no way I would want to take on all of the additional stress.  I see what her position does to her (in fact she wants to retire very early on years of service rather than age just to get out of here).  Absolutely I wouldn't want that stress in my life.  I am very happy being in a support role.  I like the idea of being my bosses "right hand" and helping her by making minor decisions and taking some of the load off of her.  But I don't want to be the one responsible for running the department and making major decisions.  That just isn't me.