Today we (some of the sales dept.) had lunch with Katie, our co-worker who had a baby boy (Owen) on September 15th. She looked amazing - so happy, loving on her little boy, and in general she is just a joyful person. He will be 4 weeks old on Monday, and in the car on the way back to work we were talking about how crazy it is that maternity leave is a mere 6 weeks. I can't imagine that in 2 more weeks she'd be 100% ready to jump back in the work world, which she's actually not doing - she's taking vacation and other time to be home a little longer. Anyway, I started to think about it and I guess you can just interpret all my rambling:
I have always wanted to be a mother. I mean, from the time people started asking me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I have answered "a mommy". Except of course for that feministic time in late middle/early high school when I said "the CEO of a major corporation"... yeah, except for that.
Now that I'm working, I really enjoy the work life: the schedule, the money, the co-workers, the money, the intellectual stimulation, the money... but it makes me wonder. In the future (let's say the far away future for fear of scaring the love of my life) when I have a baby/babies, will I:
Stay home for sure?
Stay home for several months and then go back?
Stay home and work part time?
Go back to work as scheduled?
And the thing is, whatever you think you'll do before you actually have the baby, will probably change when you have it. I mean, you might think you want to be home full time and realize, wow - this isn't for me. Or you might think that you will certainly work when your leave is up, but get to that "6 week" mark and think, how could I leave this baby?
I'm just throwing all this out there, and I know that what I think I'll do now will probably change, because my thoughts and opinions on so many things seem to change with the years. I've always been a night owl, now I have to be in bed by 10:30 or I'm freaking out that I won't get enough sleep. I used to hate to exercise and now I wish I had the opportunity to go to a class every day. I used to love school, and now I'm (sort of) dreading going back in January. I used to always have to be with others, and now I really enjoy alone time. All these things have changed, and will continue to morph as the years go by.
Who knows. Right now, I'm still a single, selfish, working, apartment dwelling, puppy loving girl who's happy where she is. :)
this is a great blog. you know, you're right- every person is different. but praise the Lord that biblical men know that their job is to provide, so even if you wanted to work while being a momma there's no pressure there unless you choose to put it there for provision purposes.
ReplyDeletethis was one of the first things forrest and i talked about when we were friends and shared our desire to have children one day. i LOVE working in some capacity; i will always work. but I also want to be a completely stay at home mom. which works great since I can teach music from home. the cool thing is, the sky is the limit on what you'll be able to do...and taking care of a baby is a job in itself ;)
<><