I know that sounds like an obvious observation but until you really think about, you may not realize how big the federal govt really is. I just started working at the National Institutes of Health (which is 1 of 12 operating divisions under the Department of Health and Human Services). HHS itself is 1 of 15 federal executive departments in the United States. With me so far? So at orientation, I found out that NIH employs over 27,000 employees! NIH is the largest consumer of electricity in Montgomery County! 27,000 employees in an agency within the 10th largest (of 15) department in the US. According to wikipedia.org, as of 2007 the federal government employed 4.2 million people! Wow! That makes them by far the largest employer in the country. For comparison, the largest private employer in the US is Walmart with 1.8 million employees. That means the federal govt employs more than twice as many employees as the largest private employer. That's some serious clout.
One of the things about having only twins is that you get to experience certain parenting events just once. For example, both kids will go through the college process together. This means you go in with zero experience, learn on the fly and when it's over, you have all these knowledge and experience that's basically useless to you. Take the Terrible Twos...it's double the trouble for you but once it's over, it's over. Unlike those who space out their children and have to repeat the process 2, 3 years later. Or (oops) 10+ years later. Both of my kids play travel soccer. Because soccer is literally my first love, everybody thinks I either pushed them into playing soccer or strongly encouraged them. Which is totally untrue. We put them in different sports...gymnastics, martial arts, basketball (a complete and total waste of money, these kids have zero basketball interest and ability), kids art and indoor tiny tots soccer. I love soccer but I don't expect anyone el...
Did you get a raise joining NIH?
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