As reality would have it, I was absolutely slammed at work today. I didn’t have a minute to spare. And if you are a parent, that means that you need to expect the following words in return for that kind of setup…”Mom, I feel sick.”
Sigh. I can’t stand it when one of the monkeys feel that way. I also dislike knowing that I’m going to be that much more in the weeds with the aforementioned pile of work when the amoxicillin fairy fails to appear. That fairy is a total loser. She never shows up when I need her. She may be directly related to the tooth fairy who has forgotten to deliver as expected on time on multiple occasions as well. It’s incredibly rude given the amount of effort we have put into gardens for those mini flying wenches. Ok maybe other people could have assisted the tooth fairy a bit more, but I digress…
So I dropped off one teeny unsick kid at daycare, came back home to get to work, two other kids appeared and one instantly transformed into a sick kid, the prescription fairy was M.I.A. (wench!), we went to the pediatrician, we went to the pharmacy, there was more sick kid action, there was more pharmacy action, and my work was piling up at a furious rate the whole time. The hours blew by, and I looked up to see that I was minutes away from the tech turn off start time.
This was the biggest challenge for me to date. I sat there thinking about everything I needed to do. My husband was finally back home from his job, so I could close my office doors and get to work in earnest. And I really considered doing just that. At that point, the sick kid was conked out in another room. However the rest of the family was good to go for hang out time. They weren’t pushing me about it, but it was clear that they were available and ready to spend time together if I was be able (willing) to step away from my computer. I thought about maybe taking a break and then just pulling an all nighter after the fact to make up for the lost time and possibly make a dent in the work.
But the truth is that more work will be there tomorrow. And even more the next day. And the next. The work hamster wheel will giveth as long as I will taketh.
I need to stop taketh-ing so much from that hamster and let someone else take a crack at the wheel.
I’m thankful to say that I picked my family and myself. I took the time off, and ultimately I called it a night on the professional front. No all nighter for me tonight.
My work is very important to me, and I busted my tail to get where I am in my company and my profession. But I don’t live to work. I work to live. And the most important part of that life that I work for isn’t the part that has me locked into my spreadsheets for hours on end every evening, weekend, and holiday. I’ll finish what I can tomorrow, and I will work extra hours up to a reasonable point. But I’m not going to continue down a path of sacrificing the things that matter for the sake of taking care of business.
“Scrooge” has always been my favorite traditional version of this tale.
(Even though my intentions are well-placed, I sometimes worry about how I get too wrapped up in needing to take care of business. I then imagine Jacob Marley yelling at me “Mankind should be our business!!” and I wonder if he is making me a big chain necklace that Mr. T would envy as a representation of my numerous sad choices. In the meantime, Marley would be wearing that weird scarf thingy tied around his head. Is he wearing that to keep his jaw attached because his bucket was kicked long ago and his body is falling apart, or is he planning on dusting and wants to keep his hair back? I have lots of dust he can tackle if he is interested in the latter, so I’m hoping for that one.)
(I am easily distracted so you never know where these contemplative moments will lead.)
(Also the post really ended before all of the parentheses began, so you can stop reading anytime.)
(Unless you just can’t resist.)
(I can do this all day people.)
(All.)
(Day.)
Momentum of Joy 