and Now...

I have delivered papers for the past eight years [Edited: 11 years]. Moving to a new house has changed the route, and the number of deliveries has increased. I also work at a full-time job; but my semi-retired husband helps me to the point of actually giving me whole mornings off 2-3 times a week [An increase in papers has changed this back to every morning]. Economy and finances play a big part in the reason why I continue to be a newspaper carrier. However, there are other things I would never have experienced if I had remained blissfully asleep in the early hours before dawn. This blog is about those things: a collection of stories, musings, observations.

In the Beginning...

A decade after beginning a family day care business, my fervor for the constant sound and activity of children was on the wane.  I still devoted myself to caring for the last remaining children in my day care, but thought about my possibilities for part-time employment. Being a one-car family, the possibilites were not exactly abundant. So when an ad in the newspaper mentioned a delivery route for my neighborhood, the wheels began turning. As I changed diapers, read stories, set up wooden railroads and played referee to toddler squabbles, the words of the ad tumbled around in my mind. "Good small route suitable for a beginning carrier. Earn $250.00 a month." The route could be completed early in the morning, would not require a car, and would provide a bit of spending money with the demise of my day care income. When the day care was finally closed, I would still be home to take of my two children. It seemed to be just the thing....so I answered the ad, and I became a newspaper carrier.