Monday, December 28, 2009

My year in review

At the beginning of 2009, I had a just-1-year-old son and a job. I was looking forward to a Bermuda cruise in May and a new year filled with promise.

I got to go on my cruise, and we had a great time. But two months later, in July, I no longer had a job -- a casulty of a mass layoff. While I was traumatized at first, I've now come to see that it was a blessing. Because I end 2009 as a stay-at-home mom (known by the cool kids as a SAHM) who is enjoying her son and her newly slowed-down life.

Things aren't perfect, as they never are. I get bored. My brain occasionally feels like it's turning to mush. Adult conversations are few and far between. And there really aren't many decent-paying, part-time, work at home jobs for a writer/editor/journalist.

Still, if I could sum up 2009 in three words, it would be these: Work doesn't matter. Being unemployed gave me the freedom to travel to Florida when my uncle died suddenly and be there for my aunt and cousins. When my dad had a stroke right before Thanksgiving, I was able to drop everything and head to the hospital to be with my mom and brother. (My dad will make a full recovery.) And on a more frivolous note, shopping, Christmas or otherwise, was a helluva lot easier when you can go in the middle of the day with all your other laid-off comrades. My days are mine and Boo's. My work benefits the people who really matter: My family. Someday I will go back to work, of course. But for now, I'm mostly digging on the time off, which, when you have an almost-2-year-old (gasp!) and a house, isn't a whole lot of sitting around. But I'll take it. And Boo is loving it too.

Happy new year, and may 2010 bring you nothing but good things.

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