My Dream Job

Right now, I work as a secretary/collections manager. It's an okay job; it gives me a paycheck, and most days I can tolerate being there. It is far from my dream job. Of anything in the world, I want to be a stay at home mommy to my son. I knew when I was pregnant with him, that I would have to go back to work after my 8 week maternity leave. I was tolerant of this idea until I held my son in my arms for the first time. I knew right then that this going back to work thing was going to be awful. When it came down to it, it was either go back to work, or live in our vehicle. I knew what I had to do, I went back to work. Now, three and a half years later, it is still hard to leave my precious baby every day. I miss him. I wonder what he is doing all day. I still wish I was home with him.

Tuesday I was able to take the day off from work. I was ecstatic to say the least. It was only one day, but for one glorious day, I got to work at my dream job. Twenty-four full hours, I was a stay at home mommy. I planned for our day a week in advance; what we would do, where we could go, how long we would play outside. I couldn't wait.

We started out our morning around 8:30. We went down to the kitchen and Gavin requested pancakes. So pancakes it was. After breakfast, I asked Gavin to play with his tractors for a little while so I could clean the kitchen. Between wiping the counter tops and loading the dishwasher, I was able to fit in a little fort building.

With the kitchen now clean, we moved downstairs. We played with all sorts of toys and read countless books. I took a break after a couple of truck books to throw some laundry in the washer and fold a load of clothes freshly dried. Our morning moved along smoothly and quickly. The quickly part disapointed me greatly. I knew this day would end entirely too fast.

For lunch, my little man wanted mac and cheese. We had our lunch together and enjoyed great conversation. We talked about tractors, daddy's work, mommy's work, and Gavin told me elaborate stories. He has a wonderful imagination. After several 'stories' of Gavin driving tractors and planting beans, we moved back downstairs so he could watch a couple of his favorite cartoons. Soon after, I could tell nap time was fast approaching. With a little snuggling and a little rocking, my farmer-boy was fast asleep. I took advantage of this time and cleaned one of the bathrooms and did yet more laundry.

If anyone is actually reading this, I know what you are thinking: laundry, and bathroom cleaning is not exciting to read or even blog about. Oh, but in the life of this want-to-be-stay-at-home-momma, it is the most rewarding thing I have done with my day for a long time. I got more satisfaction out of cleaning the bathroom than I do in a week of 8 hour days behind my desk.

We ended our day together by going to the park. Gavin was so excited when I mentioned a trip to the park. He was full of a million questions on our drive there. We got to the park and walked across the parking lot. Well, not really walked as much as I was pulled across the lot. We spent 45 glorious minutes sliding, running, swinging, and climbing. As 5 o'clock approached we had to bring our play to an end; Daddy would be home soon and we wanted to make supper for him.

Sadly, I realized our dream day was coming to a close. The day went entirely too fast. On our drive home from the park, Gavin told me how much fun he had and I echoed his comments. He told me we should stay home together more often. I echoed that comment too. Maybe someday.