The Pain of Working
Let’s start with setting judgement aside. Moms are awesome. Stay-at-home moms, full-time working moms, breastfeeding moms, formula moms, we’re all pretty amazing. My husband who stays home taking care of our son works incredibly hard. When I’m at my office, I also work very hard. No need to compare, no need to rank. Let’s leave it at that. But recently I started my journey as a working mom.
The first week back I felt out of place. It was that slight inclination that I didn’t really belong there anymore. Projects had changed, procedures had improved, and just as when I first started, I felt lost. Every day slowly became slightly easier, but the one moment I learned to love was the rush of joy every afternoon when I opened my front door proclaimed, “Hello family!” I love when Daniel sends me pictures throughout the day. They make me homesick, but have me smiling for hours. I enjoy once again being in meetings. Yes, I’m one of the few people who really enjoy most meetings. The best part of my job is the opportunity to work with some really great people to accomplish our goals.
But as much as I get to laugh regularly with my team, the greatest part of my day is I have some incredible people at home waiting to hang out with me too. It’s hard to only have an hour or so with Kai before he’s ready to go to bed. I’ve had to become a “morning person” in order to have a few hours giggling with him to start my day. When once I got home and changed to go out, now I walk through the door and baby proof myself. My hair gets tied up out of his reach, I take off anything he could grab or scratch himself on, and make sure my shirt is ready to be covered in drool.
Kai time!
But what I’ve learned so far is that there are many things I want to do and things I have to do. But it’s a gift to be in every single moment of it. I am thankful that I can be excited to see my son when the day is done. I’m grateful for the work and sacrifices that Daniel puts in every day to make sure Kai is loved and cared for by his father. Maybe I’m not as much a working mom as I am a loving mom, who like all other moms out there am just doing what I can to take care of my son in every way possible.