Maternity leave is winding up for me in the next week. I will return to work in my home office and get back into a routine where the house will be quiet during the day as Hunter is at school, E will be at a home daycare and Anika at Gma Carol’s house. My days at home are spent on the phone, Skype, video and phone conference calls and typing away on my computer. Due to the nature of my job and responsibilities I will be traveling again in the shortest increments possible but will be leaving my youngest baby for the first time in less than two weeks. My trips are most often short in time and distance and only consist of domestic travel which makes leaving early on a Monday morning possible and getting back home within 36-72 hours. I have done this all before but this time it is more trying on me.
While I do not have to work, I choose to work. I have an amazing set up which my employer has been extremely flexible with over the years. Being a SAHM (stay at home mom) is possible for me but not what is best our family, at least not at this stage of our life. A happy mommy makes a happy family, I once was told by a dear friend. My husband and I fully agree. My career is challenging, exciting and fulfilling. And I can do much of it from home. Plus when we moved to the prairie, Nathan completely changed careers and is now home every night which allows me to be gone for my job responsibilities when needed. This is actually my #1 deciding factor in continuing to work. If Mommy is not home, Daddy is. And we have two grandmas that help all the time. We manage quite well to balance work life with our family life. But the end of maternity leave is looming and it is still difficult on me to think about ending my every day simple days at home with our kids. I still will have those days, just not every day and not with the great ease they come now, as I sit right now sipping coffee, blogging in my pajamas as Anika sleeps, Elizabeth plays and Hunter practices his piano before he is out the door to school. On a working day, I will be doing just that right now at this time of the morning…working. I will have already had a whirlwind morning routine that hopefully includes some early morning exercise and plenty of coffee!
Many of my dear friends know this working mama road I am on and we share stories and compare notes often. Yesterday I was deeply touched when Nathan brought home a box that arrived for me at the Post Office. It was from Amazon and inside had two books with a sweet and thoughtful note from my friend Julie. Julie and I met through business years ago and developed a strong friendship. Today we no longer interact frequently on the business front but we have kept our friendship strong through our blogs. For those of you interested in the books you can buy them here and here. I actually read them aloud immediately when I opened the box. I was emotional because they indeed fit me as a mother and our family perfectly. Thank you Julie. And thank you to my husband, kids, parents, in-laws, many other family members and true friends for supporting me in both my motherhoood and career roles. No matter what I am doing in my job, being a mommy is the most rewarding job I will ever have.
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