Having children is MORE than a full time job, it requires constant vigilance.
Like a soldier on the battlefield your senses are on high alert. The smallest squeak of a floor board or creak of a door could signal an emergency. A cough or a sneeze in the middle of the night could mean an early morning doctor visit.
There are no lunch breaks, no relaxing commutes home sipping on a mocha-choca-latte and no trips to the water cooler to visit with friends. You don’t even get to clock out at the end of a hard day and go home.
As a freelance writer I work from home, and many people think I get the best of both worlds. I guess that’s true, but I also get the worst of both worlds. I don’t have to get dressed or put on makeup to go to work, but I don’t have an excuse to buy “work clothes,” either. I get to be with my children all day everyday…but I’m with my children all day. Everyday. Even when I’m working, or on the phone with my agent, or trying to call my editor…the (cute) little monsters are still there.
Working from home has meant my Starbucks is my coffee pot. Occasionally, (read: everyday) I get interrupted so many times while trying to drink a cup of coffee, I end up nuking it in the microwave until it tastes like it has cigarette butts floating in it.
Trips to the water cooler or the break room for real live human interaction and support have been replaced with numerous (and somewhat lengthy) visits to twitter and Facebook, to contact with other mothers and writers. Lunch is no longer take-out while gossiping with friends, but more “pick-up.” Picking up the leftover PB&J crusts my kids didn’t eat, so I can sit down and write for a few minutes before I have to do laundry, clean the kitchen and rush to school to sit in a carpool line.
It’s hard. But I can tell you this. At the end of a long day of work, I never, ever had a co-worker wrap their arms around me, kiss me and tell me they loved me “all the way to the moon.”I get to be with my children all day everyday…but I’m with my children all day. Everyday. "
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