What path will I choose now for my career.....

Those that know me know that I have always worked.  I have always earned my own money even from a young age, I would give away my nights, weekends, and summers to babysit.  I was forced to grow up way before my time, so when it came to responsibility, I was always wise before my years (I guess you could say)  I moved out of my house while I was still in high school to try to escape the disfunction.  I worked full time as an assistant manager of a shoe store and went to high school full time to get my diploma.  I never really knew what I wanted to do when I grew up except be a mom, so that's what I did. I was married young and had my daughter right away.  I invested my time in my daughter and helping my ex-husband find his career job a firefighter.  That left me working to help support the family, but not doing anything I enjoyed.  I am a hard worker though since I started so early and no matter what I did, I put my all into it.  Years went by and life changed for me quite a bit.  My grandmother was the only woman role model I had growing up and she was my everything. She also provided me with a sense of normalcy in my life.  She passed very unexpectedly and that caused major depression which did end up leading to the demise of my first marriage.  Being young, with a young child I felt a bit lost on what to do with myself.  It wasn't like I was not use to supporting myself but now I had another person that was my sole responsibility.  I jumped into another career which I was terrified of: a loan officer for a mortgage company.   I met my husband while going through this life transition and he was my biggest cheerleader helping me along the way while I got started.  This was huge for me because not only did I get paid a very good salary I also got paid a lot of commission on the loans I produced. I loved helping people and that helped me become very successful, making very good money, earning awesome vacations and being recognized in the top 10% loan officers in the company out of over 2000 employees.  That did not come without sacrifice though: Very long hours and lots of stress.  After my boys were born I decided to cut back and take a big pay cut to become a loan processor.  It was much better hours, still great pay but not all stress that would steal time from my family.  I still did not know if this is what I wanted to do with my life but I was content just having a great job and still working like I had for my whole life.  The kids were getting older and I had been thinking about finally investing in myself to do something for my long term career.  My husband would tell me all the time to just quit work and go to school, or stay at home with the kids.  I just don't have it in me not to work so I did quit my job but took another job with more flexibility so I could go to school.  It took me 5 years of working full time and going to school year round, but I finally earned my bachelor degree in Social Work with a minor in Psychology.  I decided that I wanted to work with children but specifically children that grew up the way I did: with unhealthy environments, substance abuse and domestic violence.  I wish I had someone that could've been there for me growing up, even just to talk to, that understood what it was like. Being a social worker would give me an opportunity to be that person for someone else. I can tell you that it was very challenging, working, raising a family and going to school but once again with the help (I mean lot's of help) from my wonderful husband I graduated when I was 40 years old!  With many smiles and tears of happiness I decided my next move would be to earn my masters in Social work so that I could move forward with my dream.  I knew that I was not going to make a lot of money, I had been there and done that, I wanted a more meaningful career, one that would make me feel like I was doing something in this world.  Now we come to the present day.  I was all ready to start my degree at IUPUI school of social work but my life has changed once again.  After my diagnosis I had to invest my time in making sure that I was going to survive this beast. That mission became my full time job.  I went back to work 5 weeks after my surgery because it helped me mentally heal. I now have been thinking a lot about what I am going to do next.  I could go back to school and invest all that time into my masters but that would take time away from what is most important: my family. So I have decided that I probably won't be making that move to further my education. Instead, I will use my education that I have already earned and start volunteering at some local agencies that offered me work after I graduated.  I think I will start working with children like I had planned to do, but do it as a volunteer until I find the exact place that I am suppose to be.  It is crazy to think I will be 42 in a few weeks and I am still trying to find my path. Even so, I have been awakened in a whole new way with my diagnosis and I know my heart WILL lead me in the right direction :)