I have been a Stay At Home Mom for about 2 years now. Not what I imagined to become of my career. I think being a SAHM is great for many people, I just wasn't going to be one of them. I had always imagined I would work til I was 90...kids and all. I have always worked. It was what I knew and came to pretty much love. I was brought up with a work ethic you don't find too much lately. I worked hard. I respected my bosses. I gave 110%. I wanted to learn something new everyday.
And it paid off. I was promoted within a year at every company I worked . I loved it. I had high expectations for myself. And I was going to "make" it. In my eyes, this girl from the Bronx did really well for herself. I was earning a great income. I was the Director of Finance for a large corporation in New York City. These were no easy tasks. It was hard but worth it all to me
I knew having children and being a working mom was not going to be easy. I knew corporate America was not conducive to having children. I figured I would try my best at the work life balance thing.
Wow, what chaos my life had become. Three months after having Angelina I was back in the rat race again. Yep...up at 6 AM, feed the baby, run out the door when grandma came in at 7 and catch that 7:20 train into New York City. I worked like a dog all day and thought about Angelina every 5 minutes. I called home to get updates a few times a day. Home by 7:30. It hurt like hell not being with my little angel. For those who may not remember, Angelina was premature...9 weeks early. Yep, I was already concerned about her health as a preemie and leaving her everyday was not easy at all. I cried many nights lying awake thinking I was a horrible mom. It only got much worse when Angelina was diagnosed with Autism. "How the hell was I going to do this?", I often told myself. There was so much research to do on Autism. I didn't know a damn thing about it. I was horrified about everything. But, I said I would handle it all. I worked really hard on my career and didn't want to give that up. We also needed my income. We were living a comfortable life and believed we would never have to worry about financial struggles. We wanted all we had. So I continued my role as Director, yes managing a department of 25-50 people at work. And 10 therapist coming in and out of my house for Early Intervention for Angelina. It was pure insanity.
Yes, my mother in law babysat everyday for us but I couldn't expect her to keep track of the progress with Early Intervention. So I would call every therapist two times a week for updates and hear first hand on the status of Angelina's delays. This was a full time job too. Learning to care for an autistic child is very labor intensive. It's incredible how much information is thrown at you. And I needed and wanted to know every bit about it.
As the months flew by, I knew life was changing quickly for me. My career was not as important as I thought it always would be. What was important to me was spending time with a precious child who needed me more than anything else in the world. A child who experienced life differently than most. I needed to understand her more and help her more. I knew climbing the corporate ladder would never gratify me as much as climbing the Autism ladder. That would be well worth the journey.
I know do part time work selling kitchen products that I love and as a diet counselor ( my passion). These jobs may not be glamorous but they fulfill me and give me the time to focus on life's real joys. My family.
Who would of thought?
