Tumblin’ Tumbleweed
This entry will probably be politically incorrect in some way, so I’m putting on my flame proof clothing now. Just in case.
If you even traverse the edges of the mahmmy blahgosphere, you’ll see that folks are still arguing about this stoopid stuff. Go to work. Full time? Part time? Home business? Stay home and take care of the kids. What the heck?
I have done four variations of this stuff.
When I had my first baby, I fully intended to quit my job and stay home with her. It would’ve been a stretch income-wise but we could (sorta) afford to do that. As it turned out, after three months of paid “sick” time (I was not sick but they gave me the time because they didn’t have a maternity policy and didn’t know what to do with me), the GG caught me cleaning out closets and stuff and somehow (he worked for the same company) a part time job was created. For me! We made a schedule where he would get to work at 6 AM and I would drive the baby over there at 2 PM. He would come out and drive the baby home and I would work for five hours.
Eventually I quit that job and that’s too long a story for today. It was hard to do that but we were on track to pay off the Landfill’s mortgage early and so we dove off the cliff, so to speak. I was a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) for quite a few years but I was always a very busy one. I did lots of volunteer stuff in the kids’ classrooms. Reading with kids. Math games. PTO treasury jobs all over the place. And then there was the youth threatre guild, the non-profit job I held for six years. I was paid a stipend. It certainly wasn’t a living wage but I had a lot of fun and was able to spend time with friends and with my teenage children without (usually) getting into their space.
And so, now I have a full-time career again. Y’all are sick of hearing that. I am still a moom but my college-graduate kids don’t need me like they did when they they were young. So what the heck is the deal. We all do the best we possibly can to get through life and pay whatever bills we have to pay. My moom (The Commander) worked at the downtown Dee-troit Hudsons store when she was a young college grad back in the early 40s. She worked for Monkey Wards up in Sault Ste. Siberia, and then, after she had yer fav-o-rite blahgger, she stayed home with me and The Engineer when we were young. I remember when she got a teensy tinesy teaching job when I was about 10. I was left to deal with the house and my brother (and our loverly dog, Tigger) one day a week until she got home. She went on teach at my own high school and then got a masters degree in education to get her credentials in order. I was always very proud of her for going back to work and teaching of all things, fer kee-reist.
We all have to do what we have to do. We all have different personalities and different skills. We are all doing the best we can. Let’s give each other some slack.
November 4th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
I agree! It’s not up to us to judge other people’s lives and how they choose to rear their children,unless it’s really stupid,illegal or immoral. Then I reserve the right to snipe at them as much as I want! 🙂
November 5th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Hey! Tumbleweeds! Yes, they tumble, spreading their seeds as they go. And: they’re not native to North America….