When my son was born in January of 2009, I didn't quite know what to expect. I was prepared for a massive overhaul of life as I had known it - but didn't yet realize what a transformational effect it would have on every facet of my already complex life. Along with him came an amazing, inexpressible joy and love and peace; life is more wonderful, love is more profound and the world is a more beautiful, beautiful place.
What really took me by surprise is how quickly and naturally I fell into the role of parenting. After those first few weeks filled with hormonally-charged confusion and chaos, everything sort of miraculously and blissfully fell into place. I can't really explain how it happened. I always heard people talk about how "difficult" it is to have kids, or how much "work" it is. And it is. But it doesn't feel like it.
What DOES feel like work is what ended up blindsiding me as the most difficult part of parenting to date: being a working mom. Yikes! Working moms do NOT have it easy. Every single second of every day is filled with the minutiae of trying to stay on top of daily life (or at least not getting too far behind). At times clarity and balance seem nearly impossible to grasp (don't even get me started on laundry and dishes). There are days when I feel raked with guild for leaving my happy little baby at home with his nanny while I run off to the office to tackle the corporate world. There are days when I feel like I fall short. There are days when I feel like I miss the mark entirely. There are plenty of days when I feel over-worked, overwhelmed and vastly under-appreciated; and there are plenty of times when I feel like I'm living in some sort of parallel universe to my single or childless friends.
Would I trade my life for anything? Absolutely not. Never. Could I use a spa day, a chorus of encouragement or a little extra understanding when I flip out a little at the office and hurl my phone across my desk?? MOST DEFINITELY!! :)
So this blog is for all the working moms out there; moms who maybe don't feel they get all the support or all the encouragement or all the understanding they need. This is for moms who spend each day going above and beyond what they ever believed was humanly possible, as they try to find out just how many months or years you can go on three hours of sleep per night before being forcibly institutionalized! This is for moms who might feel disconnected from other moms because they spend their days at work. I've found there just aren't enough resources out there that encourage working moms (although I've found PLENTY that critique working moms or encourage them to find ways to stay home or assume they're selfishly disconnected from their children, which I assure you is NOT the case). So I'm just going to chronicle my experiences... it could come in handy down the road when I'm undergoing intensive psycho-therapy. If readers end up feeling better about their own experience, or feel better understood or gain a sense of humor or solidarity -- that's just icing on the cake (and, OH MAN, do I love icing!!!!!!).
