Friday, February 22, 2019

Coming Home



  One month after I turned the ripe old age of sixteen, I was behind a cash register of a popular fast food restaurant, asking customers about the size drink they wanted.  I was so eager to work outside of my home that I asked my parents to drive me down to the restaurant with the 'Now Hiring' sign on the billboard and I quickly filled out a paper application.  A beam of pride surrounded me after I was hired, because I felt that this bold move would be the beginning of my independence.  It was an independence that was shining bright even through the fact that my parents had to drive me to my place of independence.  From that time on, I believed in the almighty time-clock that most often hung on a wall in a narrow hall or an office somewhere.  After  I graduated from high school and made my move to the big college campus, I really felt the obligation to continue to work as those tuition bills began to roll in.  The money that I was making became less about luxuries and more about necessities. It was seriously challenging to hold a job and try to further my education, but I was determined and proud.  Although, I had the emotional and moral support from my parents, I knew that they did not have the extra finances to help.  So keeping an outside job was not only a source of pride, but it was also a necessity.

     After I graduated from college, I was blessed to begin enjoying a career that I deeply loved and appreciated. To have a career that I really enjoyed brought on a satisfaction that I was proud of. And that was something that I was able to bring with me as I entered into Holy Matrimony with Mr. Awesome.  I knew early on that working for me was my choice in our marriage, but we did not have any small babies, so it was nothing that I put much thought into as I made the drive into work.  During a portion of our marriage, I did work part time, so that I could have more time to be the keeper of our home.  Mr. Awesome has always been supportive of my choices, but together we made a great team.  Fast forward a few years into our marriage, I finally became pregnant with our sweet Alayna.  Like most women,  I had a choice to make. I knew that I wanted to take time off to be in the bliss and duty of new motherhood. Yet, the real question was how long would I stay off work.  I continued to work throughout my pregnancy until it became too physically taxing at the eight month mark.  My boss graciously worked with me to find a viable solution as I pondered over what decision to make.  As I pondered this decision, I thought of the countless other women who did not have the option to stay home and had to make the sacrificial choice of having someone care for their precious baby while they made financial means.  To these ladies, I tip my hat because neither decision is easy.  It made me even more grateful that I could freely make such choice with the support of my husband.  In the end, I decided to leave my job a few weeks before Alayna was born.  But the real moment of truth and perspective came when she was born and I held her in my arms for the first time. At that very moment,  I knew that we had made the right decision for our family.  It was then, that I had total peace with having made the choice to come home.





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