Being a wife, mother, career person, and individual means I have to make a lot of choices. Often the career person gets left in the dust. Most of the time I make choices that put the whole "mother" thing first.
I schedule my time off work around my daughter's needs, actual or intrinsic. With Chuck out of town a lot, it's generally left to me to cover miscellaneous "pupil free days", then there are sick days. There are also field trips, class parties, and stuff like that--the things I choose to participate in.
In the past I have put my career second to the needs of my daughter. It's been OK. It's been my choice.
But now I'm ready to start making other choices.
We have just leased an additional floor in my building, and we're looking for new space in my Orange County office. These are the favorite parts of my job--site selection, space planning and construction. It it different from the humdrum stuff like cockroaches and letter bombs that my job is usually made up of.
And we're at the outset of it all. And Zoe has a week between the end of camp and the start of school. Normally I would take that week off. Or Chuck and I would split the detail. But alas, Chuck will be out of town.
And for the first time I have chosen to put my job first.
I have a site visit in Orange County and space planning meetings. There will be architects, designers, and initial contractor interviews (though I already know who I want to use).
This was a very hard decision for me.
Zoe is going into the 3rd grade. And frankly, it's not like I'm abandoning her. I'll still be off her first day of school, and maybe her second. But there will be no pre-school lounging. But I feel good about my choice. I'm excited about work for a change. I know this is a really big career-making project.
If it's the wrong choice, it'll just be another few years on the therapy couch for my daughter.
Posted by beth at August 19, 2003 11:27 PM