Full Contact Parenting

I am closing in on my three month anniversary as a working mother. The reviews are still piling in and they are, quite frankly, mixed. On my end things are looking pretty good…for the most part they SEEM to like me at work - I am settling in, learning new things every day, and I feel I have already made a small, yet, important difference.

The thrill of commuting on the train, walking .8 miles to my office, being surrounded by the beauty of early Boston every day - I have the distinct pleasure of working less than two blocks from where the Boston Masacre took place some 338 years ago - is beyond my wildest dreams. Of course I have been with my children and our home(s) for nearly 17 years, so my wildest dreams are a little skewed!

At the end of my day I walk the .8 miles back to North Station - both ways at a clipped pace in order to add to my 5:30am work-out - and yes, I love it! During lunch I usually walk around and gaze up at the centuries old buildings and marvel at this place where so much of our history actually happened. being within close proximity of two Starbucks definitely adds to the lure I enjoy work…commuting on the train, drinking my coffee and reading uninterrupted, walking, the historic surroundings, my new collegues, the work, etc. It is not perfect, but it has been good for me.

For the rest of my family, the feeling is not always mutual. Ahhh…yes it is true. They have not been as excited about this new phase of my life.

My children have had my nearly undivided attention for 16, 14 and 11 years respectively. My husband has had my attention for nearly four years. I have been the one to get everyone going in the morning - breakfast and lunches started, conversation to wake them up and get them moving forward - the one who gets the house clean and tip-top, food in the frig and pantry, the one who picks them up after school and reviews their day, asks the questions they don’t want to answer and the one who has carted them hither and yon all these years.

I am also the one who has made sure the fire is lit on winter evenings, the wine is poured and dinner is on the table. Not that I am the center of their universe, but I have been the constant in all their lives as everything else has been whirling around, often at warp speed. Abandonment, change, divorce, disappointments, illness, mid life changes, high school…you get the picture.

Today the house is no longer ship shape…the dog hair collects for more than a day - try four - the cupboard of often not full, dinner is often by the seat of my pants and late, car pooling has become the norm and I am not part of it, and the “so what did you learn today, how was your test, how are things with your friends”, etc. is usually done quickly over the phone or via email.  I’m off the train, dinner is over and my little one is due for bed.  Shortly my bedtime beckons - rising at 5am really tires you out by 9pm - and the older ones are left to end the day on their own…no more late evening chats which, BTW, is the best time to hear the things you really NEED to know.

There is more to share, but it will have to wait til the morrow…this is a continuing saga and I have been told more than once that on a blog, shorter is better.

Until next time…