Generally speaking, my working hasn’t impacted the kids lives too much. Brooklyn is in school full time, so, except for an hour afterwards twice a week, her life hasn’t changed at all. And Jonah, who is in two {now three} full days for Kindergarten, spends one of my working days at school and the other at a friend’s house playing. Seriously, nothing really out of the norm.
And I’m loving the part time balance – still getting to do the stay at home mom thing, but also getting to do the working mom thing. It’s pretty awesome.
Except when it’s not.
Like when I forgot to send supplies for a craft {it worked out, but still}, or when I forgot it was Beach day and didn’t send the kids in their beachwear {urg}. Or, when I forgot it was Jonah’s *special day* and didn’t have a treat to share or the family history questionnaire filled out {huge props to my friend who took a treat for him to share! awesome.}. Or, today, when I wasn’t able to go for the Volunteer Tea.
I wasn’t supposed to work today but traded shifts with a coworker so we can go to the condo in Whitefish this summer. I’ve never gone to the Volunteer Tea, despite always helping with something, and didn’t think too much of it. Until Jonah asked if I could go.
In fact, he begged me to go. Even suggesting I quit work to be there {not an option of course but cute}.
And I would have gone in a heartbeat if I could have. I explained why I was working this day and that I couldn’t quit….and also couldn’t just take the day off.
Jonah: *But pleeeeease Mom, can you please come to the Volunteer Tea?
I mean, melt, break, shatter….stomp on and throw out the window….my heart. He finally seemed to understand and was okay with it when he realized someone had to be there to do my job. Unbeknownst to him, I did look at the time of it to see if I could swing it somehow and use the time as my lunch break….but being at 230pm just wasn’t going to work.
So I didn’t go.
Jonah: Mom, they had lots of food there. Tell me, what’s your favorite thing to eat?
Me: Um, salad.
Jonah: Yep, they had salad. Okay, what next?
Me: Sandwiches
Jonah: Yep, Completely. They had those too. What else?
Me: Punch?
Jonah: Yep! FRUIT Punch….RED!
Me: Delicious. I’m sorry I couldn’t go
Jonah: {genuine} It’s okay, Mom. I was just there smiling for everyone else.
melt.my.heart.
Jonah: And I was just thinking that I’m proud of you for getting to work. I love you, Mom.
No doubt about it – I love this kid too..adore him. And am so impressed with the maturity he showed in this instance. Being able to be happy for others is a big deal, especially for him. And knowing that he’s okay with me working and can even be happy about it….proud of me for it….that’s pretty awesome.
I wanted to be there for no other reason than because it was important to him. But life is life, and unfortunately things just don’t always work out the way we’d like. I hate that sometimes {though thankfully LOVE my job so never hate that}, but believe all things build our character and give us experience. And I think, for Jonah, just knowing that I WANTED to be there for him was enough.
This parenting gig can be tricky sometimes hey?!
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