Take this job and ...

No not motherhood - that job can be frustrating but I am sticking it out! Not the marriage - I am a "'til death do us part" advocate - so maybe later I have to murder him but not yet. Not the laundress, housefrau, chauffeur, doer of good works - all taxing but fine. No - the JOB - the one that pays the bills. 40 hours a week for the United States government. I have a hard time fitting in my 40 hours a week. So while every other government worker in the world is thinking "Hooray! Labor Day - a three day weekend - hooray!" I'm thinking, "Thank goodness, Labor Day. I can go in to the office for a whole day and not have phones ringing and people stopping by and e-mails flying and I can get some work done. Hooray!" My job has this double edged sword of flexibility and personal responsibility. It's a joy and a drain. I am in a position where I can set my own schedule. Which means - I get to go to Mass each week with my school children, I get to go to the ladies Bible study that meets in the middle of the morning on Wednesday, when there's field day, open house, field trip, awards day - I'm there. And those things are what is important to me. But then it also means - I'm dragging myself back to the hospital at 9:00pm to do paperwork or prepare what is needed for the next day, I'm making phone calls during soccer practice, I'm up with the birds on a Saturday or Sunday sneaking over to the office for a few hours while my family sleeps, I'm looking forward to a holiday - because I know my husband will be with the kids and I can go to work. There is no one else who does my job. If I don't do my job, it doesn't get done. Families suffer, children don't get what they need. But sometimes being stretched so thin makes me think that my family suffers and my children don't get what they need. So despite being blessed by this job with flexible hours, good pay, great co-workers, and the ability to really help people in need - sometimes I still want to be JUST MOM!