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Speaking of my house in Manhattan, Kansas:
Owning that house was a life-changing event for me. I had never "succeeded" at any of the traditionally female hands-on kind of work that other relatives of mine do: I can't sew like my mom, I can't knit and crochet like my aunt, I can't quilt like my sister. I was generally always viewed as "all thumbs" and not good for anything "practical". Then I bought a fixer-upper. And I can re-do closets. I can paint. I can hang wallpaper. I can remove rotting fence posts. I can replace falling-off doorknobs. It turns out that while I can't sew, having grown up around a seamstress, I really enjoy re-upholstering furniture. A staple gun is more my style than a sewing machine but shopping for upholstery material is a sort of nostalgic experience. And I also turned out to be really good at the financing end of real estate as well. I finally discovered that while I am not a great "housekeeper", I am an awesome "Homemaker": I "build" them better than I clean them. :-D
So, when I was deciding What I Want To Be When I Grow Up, my decision to pursue a degree dealing with the built environment was rooted in my experiences owning that house, fixing it up, becoming a landlord, etc. If we hadn't owned that house, I might not be planning to get a degree in planning.
Why are you in this field?
Owning that house was a life-changing event for me. I had never "succeeded" at any of the traditionally female hands-on kind of work that other relatives of mine do: I can't sew like my mom, I can't knit and crochet like my aunt, I can't quilt like my sister. I was generally always viewed as "all thumbs" and not good for anything "practical". Then I bought a fixer-upper. And I can re-do closets. I can paint. I can hang wallpaper. I can remove rotting fence posts. I can replace falling-off doorknobs. It turns out that while I can't sew, having grown up around a seamstress, I really enjoy re-upholstering furniture. A staple gun is more my style than a sewing machine but shopping for upholstery material is a sort of nostalgic experience. And I also turned out to be really good at the financing end of real estate as well. I finally discovered that while I am not a great "housekeeper", I am an awesome "Homemaker": I "build" them better than I clean them. :-D
So, when I was deciding What I Want To Be When I Grow Up, my decision to pursue a degree dealing with the built environment was rooted in my experiences owning that house, fixing it up, becoming a landlord, etc. If we hadn't owned that house, I might not be planning to get a degree in planning.
Why are you in this field?