Back when I was pregnant, and in the early days after Rhys was born, there were 2 questions I was asked a lot, that in my mind kind of contradicted each other. The first was, "Are you taking the full year?". In Canada, working women can take one full year off after their child is born, and the Federal Government will pay them to do it. Seems like a no-brainer. I can think of a handful of reasons why someone would choose to take less than the full year, but I assume most people take it all. The way this question was asked always seemed to imply the thought that 'You're obviously going back to work, but WHEN will you be going back'.
Then came the second question, 'Will you be going back to work?", which was always an annoying question because, hello, my baby is 3 days old! I don't want to think about this right now! And also because, unlike the first question, this one seemed loaded with a hidden agenda, like the person was trying to gage how much I loved my baby, or how important 'being a mom' was to me, or something.
Or, maybe I'm just overly sensitive and people were simply trying to make conversation because they were uncomfortable because my boob was hanging out.
From the get go, my plan was to return to work. My first day back to work is tomorrow, and I've barely had time to process that. With birthdays, and daycare, and ear infections and Folk Fest, July is a blur and I haven't thought about it in too much detail. It will be like pulling off a bandaid, and perhaps that is a good thing.
I'm thankful that daycare is going well, and Rhys will be home with Warren on my first day back. I kind of have that feeling you'd get as a kid, at the end of summer holidays when you had all your new school clothes and new stationary stuff and you had butterflies in your tummy because you couldn't wait to see all your friends, but then after 2 days of being back you realised 'Ick! I'm back at school!' and suddenly you wanted it to be summer again. That's what I'm in for, I expect.
To psyche myself up, I dug up an old blog entry from way back in April 2008.
It was called 10 Things I Love About My Office Job . Maybe in a month or so, I can update the list, but for now it was great for a chuckle.
Now, what does one wear on the first day of her Triumphant Return To The Work Place?
4 comments:
Have a great day tomorrow! The first day of school is always fun, so enjoy it before it becomes "work" again. And wear some new AE jeans and a fitted jacket!
oh my goodness! I *always* ask that question! (are you going back to work?)
It's just curiosity, I swear! I have no judgments!
Well, not *many* anyway.
Happy First Day Back!
Good luck with everything!!!! I soooo remember the butterfly feeling of going back after a long time away, but as soon as you hear that first person say, "It's great to see you back!" it all goes away. You will do great! And a side benefit is that when you do get home from work, you will be happier to see Rhys than you can imagine.
Ahhhhhhhhhhh memories of a random chocolate craving. I laughed so hard when I read that!!!
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