Wednesday, January 2, 2008

the work/mom dilemma

Now I remember why I went freelance all those years ago. Because being a mom and being an ad broad are often frustratingly incompatible. This is the last day I'll have both kids (technically, grown-ups, but trust me, only a technicality) home from college. It's the last day I'll have them both home simultaneously for a very long time. True, they've been home for weeks, but what with family visits and parties and their social agenda and seeing high school friends (our togetherness not being the priority for them as it is for me) I've not had the chance to be with them as much as I'd have liked. Until today. But today is first day back at work for me. After checking my calendar--no big meetings, no production deadline, no creative due tomorrow--I e-mail in sick. Which means no dayrate today, a definite drag. But sitting with my daughters at the breakfast table at noon, still in our pj's, chatting over cup after cup of coffee: priceless.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I felt the same way on my vacation when I spent every day sitting with my parents in the kitchen, eating breakfast at noon.

Of course, I'm not in college anymore and good thing. When I was, I would have (foolishly) spent far too much time with high school friends, at parties, etc.

Live and learn, I guess.

Ad Broad, oldest working writer in advertising said...

Your parents are lucky you realize what some people don't get until their parents are gone. Welcome back to the, um, real world, Daily Biz.

Irene Done said...

This was a sweet post. You don't get many chances to have such a cool "sick" day.

Alan Wolk said...

Good for you. I am very much in favor of family first work attitudes.

Trite as it is, I always keep that cliché "Nobody ever died wishing they'd gone to more meetings" close at heart.