New Life

Many of you know that I have taken a new job that is a job share. I love it. I sincerely miss my former dean because I found working with him to be so completely fantastic because I respected him, enjoyed his company and really found the work he was doing (improving PK-12 education) to be inspirational. That is quite unique to have a working relationship like that and it was really hard to end...except for the other crazy people who were driving me to drink heavily. Anyway....I am now off topic.

Since I started working this new job three days a week, I have had a little bit of trouble figuring out the new job, the new culture, the new rhythm (that is the hardest word to spell!!)of my week. I think I am on the cusp of understanding it better!!! I have changed my schedule and most weeks I will be working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. This is great because it allows my work week to be connected and my home time to be connected. The net effect is that I don't have confusion about which hat to wear or confusion about what my focus is for the day.

On Mondays, I keep Charlotte home with me -- Mondays with Mommy. It has been great to just have her around. We have done household projects together, run errands and just spent quite time talking and playing. It is so fantastic to be able to focus on her like this -- and it has paid off hugely.

I have also had more time to be involved with the both of the kids' schools. This was very important to me because Ben was starting in a new school with which I had no knowledge of or relationship. So, I have signed up for potluck dinner help, field trips and helping with class parties. I think he genuinely appreciates having me around too! And I have learned most of the kids in his class name and they have learned who I am.

My favorite thing is working with the kids and books. I have adored children's books my entire life. When I was in high school, I had a part time job at Harbor Books in Yarmouth, Maine. I loved it. One of my chief responsibilities was the children's section...I started buying books for my kids then....so we have hundreds. My specific roles at Ben's school are with library time and the book fair. I love going to help the kids with library time. I help them find books and sign them out and its fun to see Ben there and see how he functions in his school environment.

I am also involved with Lolly's school this year as the class parent. I have attended a field trip with her class too, planned a get together for the families so everyone could meet, and helped with their Halloween festivities. As a matter of fact, at Charlotte's Halloween party, there were several parents helping organize the kids around the party lunch and as I was wondering around helping the kids Charlotte called for my attention. When I turned around she said, "Momma, You a really good helper." Yes, that is the sound of my heart exploding :)

I tell you all of this because I am so excited to have all of this access to my kids -- but also to have the chance to work with a remarkably well organized and aggressive organization that is benefiting my community where I just happened to give birth to my kids. I think I am starting to get the ebb and flow of my new world. I now need to find time to paint the stairs/bathroom/kid's bedrooms/house, weed the yard, exercise, sleep, vacuum my car, organize my house, superclean my house, decorate, buy grown-up furniture and cleave many of our belongings that we don't need any more. Sigh...I think there will always be a to do list a mile long...but I think my kids are feeling like they have me more now than they have before and that is a one thing I can cross off the top of my To Do List.