I kneaded this

SO I graduated Massage school in April of 2004, 8 years ago. Because I went to school in Utah, I had to be Nationally certified to get my Arizona license. I was grandfathered in for one year, before the "law" went into place that I needed to take the national exam. So the NCTMB is the National Massage Exam that was available to me at the time. $350 to take the test, then another $220 to get state license after passing the exam. Well...I failed the NCTMB in June 2005, 2 months after Jake and I were married...newly weds with NO MONEY. If you fail, you have to pay again to retest. I was SOOOO mad/upset/embarrassed/and discouraged. I finished my one year as a massage therapist, and then found out I was pregnant with McKenzie December 2005. So I never re-tested.

I worked with Massage Envy as a therapist for a year, and then with their corporate and management for about another year. (I was kind of burned by them) Anyway, with a baby on the way, and NO health insurance, I put off being a massage therapist. I found a job with bank of America, where I was immediately covered with Insurance, and also was able to work part time opposite Jake and still be home with my new baby. SO Now...around August 2007 I am approached by a long time friend who wants to open a Massage business of her own, and wants me to help. So for the next year or so I help start and create "National Massage Club" a Massage business that ultimately failed because the friend was in it with her now EX-husband who was CRAZY. I bounced out of that situation long before it failed though because I knew where it was headed...anyway..during all this time I was still working with Bank of America. I LOVED my job at the bank. I worked there almost 4 years, where I went from teller, to senior teller, to Teller Manager/Asst. Manager. I was pregnant with Brady when I decided to become a stay at home Mom. So we are now in 2009, I give birth to Brady.....I am now a stay at home mom. I start pursing my bachelors in Business management online. 19 months after Brady was born, I give birth to Kaitlyn. So April 2011. I am a stay at home mother, going to school full time, with a husband that now works 3 jobs so that we live comfortably, and can save to buy a house. I decide I REALLY miss doing massage, and that I WILL study my butt off, and take the state license test! No longer the NCTMB, the MbLeX. So 90 days after setting the goal to pass, I DID!!!! I passed my massage EXAM...8 years later!!! So now I can send in my state licensure info and become a LICENSED MASSAGE THERAPIST!!!

It feels so GOOD to be able to use the education I have, and to make some extra money on the side without forfeiting my time as a mom. I am not sure what I want to do as a LMT yet, but I am hoping either something on my own, renting a space with other therapists part time, or finding a Chiropractor. We shall see! But either way It feels GREAT to check it off my bucket list!!!!