Goodbye Stay-At-Home Mom The Pleasures of Returning to Work
By Sue LeBreton
W
hen I began to tell people that I was returning to work full time in an urban downtown office after 14 years as a stay-at-home mom, their eyes would widen, and after congratulating me they would inevitably say, “Oh your life is about to change.” Their tone implied that my life was not about to change for the better.
On my optimistic days, I reassured myself that I had once successfully returned to work after a six-month maternity leave and this was just a very long maternity leave. On my less optimistic days, I considered calling to say I’d made a mistake and would not be arriving for my first day. I reminded myself that the people who hired me knew about that big hole in my resumé and wanted me anyway. In the days before my official start date, I felt like I was about to bungee jump off a cliff. Would the thrill of the jump overcome my fears? It was time to heed the advice I had always given to my kids, now teens, who had faced so many new teachers and schools with my assurance that all would be well, once they settled in. 28 SonomaFamilyLife
In the days before my official start date, I felt like I was about to bungee jump off a cliff. Six months later, I can admit, yes, some parts are difficult. As every mom has heard more times than she can count, there is no such thing as having it all, but for me the pleasures have outweighed the burdens. As I step off the train in the morning, I weave between people threading in all directions. I lift my face up to the skyscrapers greeting me. Each day a slightly different hue bounces off that hammered glass blue building that is my current favorite. I soak in the sights that still feel foreign after so many
years in the suburbs. I want to spin and fling my hat exuberantly into the air like Mary Tyler Moore did in the opening credits of her old TV show. As it turns out, all those wide-eyed, “life is going to change” people were right. My life has changed since returning to work, but mostly in ways that I love. I feel like a grown up again. I know, it sounds weird. My teenagers don’t get it either. For more than a decade I’ve been living life immersed in theirs, some days feeling like I was stuck in whatever developmental age they were. I actually have less responsibility at home. Now that I’m commuting to downtown, my husband is the closest parent to the children’s schools. Bonus! When I leave the house
January 2017 www.sonomafamilylife.com