Nine Thousand, Six Hundred Sixteen and Counting

The time space continuum gets disrupted when you’re not employed, but that’s not a bad thing. As a full time working mother my survival was based on sticking to an unwavering routine. When the routine did change as things always do, my stress-o-meter climbed regularly into the red zone. And let me be clear here, I only have one child. For you working-outside-of-the-home moms with two, three or more kids, I am in awe and you earn my total admiration every day.

Those of you who have been reading Middle Passages know that during the last month I have assigned myself a schedule, but here is a fun bit. For the most part, while I’m dedicated to the timetable, there is no requirement to stick to it. It is amazing to note how full these days have remained during this time at home, yet I wallow in the flexibility. A text message from my daughter at the last minute indicating that she needs to stay late at school doesn’t involve a boatload of Catholic guilt and three phone calls to arrange transportation. I simply go get her. A request from a friend at 9:30 (typically blog writing time) asking me to join her for a walk, receives a smiling affirmative. I’m available to help another friend with transportation related to a car issue, and to serve as a resource to my daughter’s friends requiring rides, rather than relying on their parents for a lift for her. Best of all, the work that I am accomplishing, the job search related assignments and writing these posts, occurs with zero clock-watching on my part. Yesterday, when my daughter got off the bus from school; I was so engrossed in what I was doing, that I looked at her astounded when she walked in the door.

2,649,600

Don’t get me wrong. There was a lot about my job I liked. But the figure above represents a ball-park estimate of the number of minutes that I wished away over the years, eying the end of the work day and yearning to be home with my family.

9,616 is the approximate number of minutes in the last four-plus weeks that I haven’t. To my way of thinking, each of those 9616 minutes carries approximately 100 times the weight of every moment above. I may not have caught up all the way yet, but the clock is still ticking and I’m getting there fast.