The Man Of The House does all of the cooking, grocery shopping and a large portion of the laundry. He makes sure I get my sleepy ass out of bed each morning and also gets the children up and out for school every day. He makes my life easy. While I'm predictably at work each day, he has a tremendous amount of flexible time. He is a photographer, so his days sometimes consist of shooting or editing, sometimes he runs errands and sometimes he naps or plays on the internet all day.
I am so freakin' jealous of him I can't stand it.
I used to be home with the kids. My ex-husband thought I spent my days lounging about, which I most certainly did not. (Well, maybe sometimes!) I was, afterall, caring for two, then four young children. Being the mama was the best job ever, though it was often lonely. When we separated and I went back to working full time I was THRILLED to be among adults again. I missed my babies deeply but I was proud of my ability to earn enough to care of my kids and myself.
But now it kind of sucks. Well, not the part where we eat regular meals and have a lovely home...definitely not that part!
Being an MRI Technologist allows me to help people in a meaningful way and I earn a good living doing it. What makes me crazy is that I really hate to be told what to do. I hate to be on someone else's schedule, having to request time off six months in advance. Being the one that brings home the steady paycheck and provides the family's insurances gets heavy, too.
My husband is friggin' brilliant. I mean this sincerely. With the obvious caveat being that his income ebbs and flows over the course of the year, the advantage is that he can do almost ANYTHING he wants. Difficult client? Decline future work from them. Need a day off? Rearrange your schedule to accommodate your appointment, day trip or round of golf (though he very rarely does these things). Sick kid? No problem, or a much smaller problem, at least. His flexible schedule has saved us many thousands of dollars in childcare costs, too. Add that to his actual income and, yeah, he wins. Such a smarty pants!
The truth is that every career choice has its pros and cons, right? Steady Paycheck vs. Sporadic Income. Mostly Weekdays vs. Evenings & Weekends. Easy Access To Insurance, etc. vs. Not So Much.
That freedom, though.... So romantic and intoxicating!
So, what to do? Throw caution to the wind? Or must I be The Responsible Girl I've always been and just suck it up for the sake of consistency?
I have interests I'd love to explore. Flipping houses was the most fulfilling work I ever did. Taking a neglected building and bringing it back to life, preserving it, was hard work but it was fun and felt meaningful. I have dabbled in recording voice overs and can totally see making that a full time gig. Even real estate sales and staging sound great. Maybe some crazy combination of these things will keep us fed and sheltered!
What I know for sure is that I don't see myself in my current job for another 26 years. There are too many school activities being missed. Too many beautiful days spent indoors. Too many missed lunch dates with my beau. Too many adventures left on the ol' bucket list.
I think I'm gonna have to stop being envious of my husband and go Carpe myself a few Diems! ; )
