Workin' it

[Lisa]

I have been back to work after maternity leave for three months now, which feels like three minutes. I can't believe how much time has passed since Emma was born, and how much time I've been trying to catch up at my job.

A small part of me misses maternity leave. I miss snuggling with little Emma all day. I miss being home when Ellie comes in the door from school, ready to tell me all about her day. I miss how available I was. Now, my Outlook calendar has appointments on top of events, school functions on top of meetings. If I print one day out, it looks like a grim report spit out by some sort of hospital monitor. And in between all of that, I'm trying to be an adequate mom, wife, sister, friend, etc.

Don't get my wrong, I don't bury myself in guilt about working outside of the home. I come from a long line of sucessful working mamas. My mom worked. My sisters work and they raised intelligent, caring, funny and all-around wonderful people who love their parents dearly. As a kid I was addicted to hearing about my mom's day. I couldn't get enough of the stories about what happened, who she met, what was new. To me, she was the most interesting mom I knew, and she was all mine. I hope my girls find my career life interesting someday, too.