Leaving the Kitchen Table
This is a big year for our family. My daughter just turned 16 and my son 13. Momentous birthdays both, but the biggest news in my house is that I am not perpetually waiting at the kitchen table at 3:30 anymore after school. I have worked from home for all of my children's lives. This year I began to work out of the house part of two days per week, and am taking a class one night. The adjustment has been easy for me, not so for them.
My first week at work my daughter was exasperated that she couldn't reach me at 3:20 because I was on the subway. I got off the train to frantic messages from my daughter and husband looking for me--and I was only unavailable for a 20 minute subway ride. Talk about feeling needed. Leaving for my class on Monday night one of my kids invariable says, "you are never home anymore". I tell them I am sorry and that I promise to help with studying, editing or watching "Gossip Girl" when I return.
But truthfully, after spending 16 years at the kitchen table, I am enjoying my new part-time career working out of the house teaching classes, giving seminars and helping women with their own career transitions. I love being a mom, and still enjoy the after school snack time when I am home, but on the days that I am not, I know my kids are fine and I hope that all of the time I have given them is banked somewhere in their brains. It is nice to feel needed, but they are more than capable of making their own snacks after school and getting started on homework without me.
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