About two months ago, I wrote an entry about the next step in my  career path.  I still don’t know what I am going to be when I grow up, but as of Monday I do know what I am going to be doing 25 hours a week.  I accepted a position to work as part of the office staff at my doctors’ office.  I figured that if my doctor’s office treats their staff only half as well as they treat their patients it would be a fantastic place to work.  From what I have learned so far, my assumption seems true.  

Now that my job search has turned into an actual job, I am a simultaneously thrilled and nervous.  In the recent past, I have enjoyed my sabbatical from the world of working outside the home.  It has been nice to do all the laundry, cleaning, and shopping during “regular business hours.” It has left the opportunity to actually relax and enjoy our evenings and weekends.  I have especially loved the chance to focus more on Sarah and Jaley.  While, I enjoyed my time at home, I also missed the working world.  I missed the chance to interact with adults.  I missed the chance to challenge my brain beyond creative methods for hiding vegetables in kid-friendly foods.  While I know that my work inside the home is invaluable, I have definitely missed the chance to get a paycheck at the end of the week.  

Deciding whether or not to work outside the home is a personal choice.  I have the utmost respect for moms who stay home and for those who work outside the home.  I have done both.  Both are impossibly hard jobs.  In the end, I am choosing somewhere in the middle.  My job is part-time and it definitely isn’t the 60-hour a week career I left after having Sarah.  

While the choice to rejoin the working world was mine, it impacts the whole family.  My kids will be in daycare 50 percent more and my husband will need to pick up more household chores.  There will be more weekend time spent on errands and less chance to sleep in on a random Wednesday.  Even our cats will get less attention than they do today  As the saying goes, “if mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”  While I would never let a job determine my happiness, I do believe it will bring me a higher level of personal fulfillment and self-worth.  

Monday, starts a new chapter for me.  The end of the story isn’t written yet, so I don’t know how this will play out.  It really doesn’t matter.  Taking this job at this time was the right choice for me.  I do know that making the right choice for me ultimately means that I am also making the right choice for my family.  Wish me luck.

Gigi appears every Fridays on TriangleMom2Mom. Read more about Gigi at her blog Stroller Lane.