Tomorrow is my last day in the office before I transition to being full time at home. It has been a long time coming. The balance between career and family seems a universal tension all parents face, yet one that is very personal. For me, it came down to a decision of the heart.
I'm not sure how long I will, or can, be home. I will not miss the late nights and weekends or inherent stress of the job, but here are a few of what I'm most thankful for in my work:
1. I've never been bored, which is saying a lot.
2. My work homies. Some of my best friends these past few years have been at work.
3. As much as the commute can be brutal, I appreciated working in the great city of SF. It was a daily reminder of the wider world out there.
4. Maternity leave. Twice. Ok, essentially three times.
5. The flexibility that allowed me to be the kind of parent I wanted. I've never missed a school show, doctor’s visit, or teacher conference. And coming from a law firm, I don’t take that for granted.
6. The chance to prove I could do this.
When I think of where we were six years ago, just finding out Noah was coming and not certain how I was going to graduate and pass the bar, let alone hold down a job... I am just so thankful to have gotten this far. It will be a big shift for us financially, emotionally, all of it. But we've weighed the risks and decided to go for it.
Ready or not, here we go!
my new homies
