On the way to my son's doctor appointment, we passed by an office where I used to work. The company has since moved out of the building, but its name can still be clearly seen on the sign out front. It was my first job out of college and I remembered how it felt walking in there. My own desk, my first business cards, my first promotion...
Suddenly, I was hit with an all-to-familiar pang of missing my career, and I wondered to myself, "Would I ever go back?"
My husband has been working some crazy hours lately- weekends, early meetings, and late nights. Although barely seeing him has been difficult, I was just marveling at how much easier it is has been to have one of us at home.
No juggling day care pick ups, no fast food/take out meals, and no running errands on weekends. The bills are paid in a timely manner, the trash is taken out, and the beds have crisp, clean sheets... Basically, things that I'm embarrassed to admit didn't happen when we both worked and didn't even have a child in the mix.
I L-O-V-E being a SAHM, but sometimes I wonder... "Will I ever go back to work? Can I even go back?" (Come to think of it, I get asked that quite a bit, mostly by my parents who paid for my entire college tuition and living expenses. Hmm...)
Well, conventional thinking would say "Nope. I quit to raise my son and botched it for good", but fortunately, we no longer live in a conventional world...
This afternoon I found a great article, Quit work for a while to have kids. Your career will be just fine by Penelope Trunk, but way of Sara, the Self-Made Mom and it helped that little pang subside. (It seems that we had similar experiences today and the comment I left on her blog was the inspiration for this post.)
The article was good reminder that the road of life is paved with a multitude of options. The direction you take all depends on where you want to be.
Of course, given the choice between sipping coffee and skimming emails in an office or shuttling a cranky, sick toddler to the doctor, who would choose the cranky, sick toddler?
I can name one- my husband, who will barely be making it home for bedtime tonight and who just the other day asked me, "Did he grow while I was gone?"
Suddenly, I was hit with an all-to-familiar pang of missing my career, and I wondered to myself, "Would I ever go back?"
My husband has been working some crazy hours lately- weekends, early meetings, and late nights. Although barely seeing him has been difficult, I was just marveling at how much easier it is has been to have one of us at home.
No juggling day care pick ups, no fast food/take out meals, and no running errands on weekends. The bills are paid in a timely manner, the trash is taken out, and the beds have crisp, clean sheets... Basically, things that I'm embarrassed to admit didn't happen when we both worked and didn't even have a child in the mix.
I L-O-V-E being a SAHM, but sometimes I wonder... "Will I ever go back to work? Can I even go back?" (Come to think of it, I get asked that quite a bit, mostly by my parents who paid for my entire college tuition and living expenses. Hmm...)
Well, conventional thinking would say "Nope. I quit to raise my son and botched it for good", but fortunately, we no longer live in a conventional world...
This afternoon I found a great article, Quit work for a while to have kids. Your career will be just fine by Penelope Trunk, but way of Sara, the Self-Made Mom and it helped that little pang subside. (It seems that we had similar experiences today and the comment I left on her blog was the inspiration for this post.)
The article was good reminder that the road of life is paved with a multitude of options. The direction you take all depends on where you want to be.
Of course, given the choice between sipping coffee and skimming emails in an office or shuttling a cranky, sick toddler to the doctor, who would choose the cranky, sick toddler?
I can name one- my husband, who will barely be making it home for bedtime tonight and who just the other day asked me, "Did he grow while I was gone?"
9 comments:
Did he grow while I was gone...hehehe. That gave me a good chuckle.
I'm a SAHM and totally plan on going back once the kiddos are in school full time. But for now, while they are still young, I like being there for them.
Couldn't have said it better myself! The pangs got better as the day went on, by the way...
When I was pregnant with my second child, I quit my job and stayed home as a full-time mom. That lasted about 12 years. I went back to work almost three years ago. I'm glad I stayed home, and sometimes wish I still was home. You have time to be a career woman, the kids are only babies once.
I started working from home about 5 years ago in order to be able to work from home once we had a baby. Took us a long time to have a child. Now that she's here, I don't want most of my time going to my business. Even though I'm 'here' I can't fully be here for her so I've taken time off from working. Not sure when I'll be going back to the biz again, but if/when it's right, I suspect I'll know. Until then, I FINALLY feel like I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to...except when I'm bloggin and I know I should be folding laundry or puttin' up the dishes. Hate it when that happens. ;)
~melody~
You have crisp, clean sheets?
Man, I am such a bad SAHM. I am a slcaker compared to you! LOL, great post. I think about it daily... my career, and then hug my kids tight.
I've been asking myself this same question a lot lately.
I left a corporate career, and now I don't know what I want to be when I grow up...you know, other than a mom, which, in another few years will leave me with school age kids.
I worry about not being able to "get back in" since I've been out of the working world.
Ahhh yes, once again, you're reading my mind.
I have these thoughts a lot. And since we both left the workforce at the same time, we're probably in the same "stage" of guilt and worry.
That article you mentioned was just what I needed to read. It's a big leap of faith and somehow I know things will work out, right? Right. Right? Right. :)
I totally get it. I've stayed home for almost 2 years now, but I can't imagine going back to teaching. I started my own internet biz, and that's more than 40 hours a week and I'm my own boss. Couldn't work for anyone else now.
Ok, so here's the thing, we both left advertising which I'm finding is a very different animal than other business/career paths, particularly for creatives. In an age where everyone's portfolios are online and youth = cool, I still own an actual, 25 pound portfolio, complete with a 3/4 inch reel. As much as I could write circles around any younger person there, I'd never even get an interview. My only hope is that someone I used to work with has risen high enough in an agency to just hire me.
Anyway, so I always feel very trapped because now that my son is 8 I'd go back to work in a heartbeat. I loved what I did (when I wasn't loathing it), but it really feels like that ship has sailed.
Your thoughts?
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