Ever since leaving my past job in late October, I’ve been enjoying my new status as PTSAHM…that is Part-Time Stay-At-Home Mom.
At my past job, I worked 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, but then you factor in about two hours of drive time, a one-hour lunch break and I was really away from my baby girl 11 hours per day. I left around 7 in the morning and didn’t return until a little before 6 every night. It was awful. When you add it up, I was away from my daughter 55 hours during the week, when there are only 120 hours in the 5-day work-week, and realistically, 45 hours of it I have to account for sleeping. This left me with 20 hours to spend with her. After doing this for the first 10 1/2 months of her life, I couldn’t take it anymore.
When I went to college, I experimented with management positions as I was the managing editor of my college newspaper my senior year, and worked as an editor my sophomore and junior years as well. I really liked managing people, the budget and the content of the newspaper. It was really a lot of work, with a lot of late nights, but it was so worth it. And, it is why I never scheduled any early morning classes on Tuesdays – I mean getting home after 2 a.m. on Monday morning and then having to watch a taped show with a few friends before going to bed at like 3 a.m. some mornings, getting up at 7:30 a.m. to make it to the 8 a.m. class wasn’t something that thrilled me! In fact, my junior year, I was pretty much a shoe-in to be managing editor, when a former student who decided to transfer back, swooped in and got the job, based on the fact that she was a senior. The reasoning behind the decision was she was a senior and I was a junior. They didn’t want anyone holding that position for more than a year. I was really angry and heartbroken. I was so ready to step up and show what I had to offer in a position like this. But, I had to wait a whole year before it could be my turn to prove what a good managing editor I could be.
I guess it’s all about the power of being in management and getting to know what goes on behind the close-door meetings that excites me. I liked to be over other people and have the opportunity to hire and fire. I know, I sound really power hungry, but that really is what I thought I wanted.
But, then I take you forward to December 2005, when my precious daughter entered my life. All aspirations of becoming a manager and ruling the world, in my mind, faded. They were gone. The only thing that I really, truly wanted to be was a good mom. A part of me really desired to be a stay-at-home mom full time, but I knew that I had to add to our household income, and I was at peace with that. However, there were days when I was driving to my old job that I would cry the whole way there because I really felt like I was sacrificing too much and getting little back in return. I was only getting 20 hours with my daughter and instead was spending way too much time with my co-workers who were nothing but a batch of nasty, deceitful women who were out to get you. So, with much consideration, praying, discussion with my husband and a long interview process by my current company, I quit.
Now, I get to be off with my daughter 2 whole days, just me and her. I work really close to home, so my once 11 hour days are cut to a little over 9 hour days, but the biggest difference is…I am only gone 27 hours during a week. It was not my doing that allows this opportunity for me – it’s my boss’. She came to me after I had been here for a few months, and after we were toying around with the idea of me adding a 4th day, and she said that she wants to keep me at part-time because she feels it is very important that I get to spend as much time with my daughter as possible. I am so blessed to have such a great boss!
So, as I first stated, I am loving being a PTSAHM. I get to do so many fun things with Brooklyn including a Wee Ones Gymnastic class that we just stared yesterday, along with walks, eating lunch together, taking the occasional nap together, playing together and having some really good Mommy and Brooklyn time. I feel incredibly blessed to have this opportunity, and I am in constant awe that God has gifted me such an amazing daughter and has allowed me to work part-time to enjoy life’s little moments with Brooklyn.
