The day has finally arrived… Tomorrow we meet my son’s kindergarten teacher. I am officially ready for him to go. I know that sounds harsh, but in the words of a wise friend “I have given him the best 5 years, and now he needs to go to school.”
Now don’t get me wrong, we have had a good time these last 5 years. Before he was conceived I quit my freelance editing job. I was exhausted with my freelance work coupled with raising two little ones and desperately wanted to have one child when I wasn’t working all hours God sends. I was stressed I tell you…stressed beyond belief. In fact I regularly would care for my two children from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m., then once my husband was home I would work from 3 p.m. until midnight. I did this 4 days a week and worked many hours on the weekends. It was awful.
My light bulb moment was during my husband’s defence of his Ph.D. Once he got his degree–a degree I was against since it took him away from our daughters when they were young–I started thinking that I wanted to do something for me, since he got the Ph.D. for himself. I should clarify that I know that he had other motives for getting the degree…he’s a teacher so he got a raise each time he completed a graduate class, which translated in to a higher standard of living for our family. But there were times when I was very frustrated when he would be at class or studying several nights per week. Once he had the degree he switched from teaching to a teacher/administrator job. It made sense for me to quit my job to focus on the family while he focused on his career.
My son has had my undivided attention, which is a good v. bad thing. He is the child least likely to entertain himself. However, we have had many fun, stress-free moments just sitting at home reading or doing crafts. Now, don’t get me wrong I read to my other two children and did crafts with them, but I always had one eye on the clock. I would sit there thinking “I have one more hour before I can put this child down for a nap, then I will make that phone call, prepare that FedEx packet, edit that online file.” Nope don’t miss those days.
So, tomorrow we meet the teacher, then Monday I will be at home by myself for the first time in 12 years of raising children once that bus leaves at 8:10 a.m. Let me tell you I have no shortage of projects big and small to do over the coming months. In addition I need to look for some freelance work to make a little money for the family coffers.
Times they are a changing…
