I’m thankful for my job
I bought my apartment just last October and moved into it in December, right before my company’s remote working trip to Chamonix in fact. It felt good putting down roots after getting married in 2010, moving to Belgium a year later, divorcing in 2017, and finding my way back to the office life after being an expat-stay-at-home-mom-turned-restaurant-owner for 6 years.
I finally feel like I’m “home.”
If this had happened 5 years ago when I had my restaurant, then I’d probably be bankrupt and losing my home. So I truly am grateful that I have meaningful work and real impact at Proxyclick. I could have chosen to go back to finance, but I wanted the challenge of sticking to the world of SaaS.
This must be a horrible time to be out of work, not that there’s ever a good time. I see people in my LinkedIn network sharing their layoff stories and I feel guilty about the relief I feel in being gainfully employed.
It’s the same kinda guilt-relief I felt when my son’s best friend and then-kindergarten classmate, Farah, was diagnosed with leukemia. I’d tuck Noah in at night with extra kisses — so thankful he was healthy. I got my Big Brother fans to raise money, and we donated dozens of stuffed animal blankets to the children’s cancer ward at UZ Gent. But I’d be lying if I said a part of me didn’t do it just to feel like less of an asshole for being relieved it wasn’t my child in that cancer ward.
And watching Noah’s reaction the first time we Skyped with Farah and he saw how she’d lost all her hair to chemo? I’ll never forget that. I had to hold back my own tears for the kids’ sake.
All these years later, Farah, who’s still in the same 2nd-grade class as Noah…she’s got a clean bill of health. She’s now taller than Noah! Who woulda thought?
And that’s why I have hope. That we’ll get through all this.
And maybe it’s because I’m used to the expat life and seeing my family only once a year, in person, that I’m ok with this quarantine. Or maybe it’s because I spent three months locked up in a house before, and came out with a check for $500K to show for it haha.
I truly don’t mind being home. I’ll probably work from home even more when everything returns to some semblance of normalcy. If this experience has taught us anything, it’s that the brick and mortar building doesn’t define us as working professionals.
Sure, at the office, my bra wouldn’t be sitting next to my computer. But at home, that’s my current situation today.
I’ve also eaten at least three gallons of hummus in the last 6 weeks working from home. And because I don’t have a washer/dryer yet, I have to go to the laundromat down the street every couple of weeks to sit with the rest of the creepy weirdos (yes, I count myself as one) and hope they don’t cough on me while I wait to have clean undies and towels again.
But I’m just happy to be healthy and have the technology available to chat with my family and friends when I can. I’ve also been using the time to do a lot of personal writing. (In fact, my first book is being published at the end of this year!)
I also have a newfound respect for teachers and daycare workers, babysitters and nannies, and anyone else who used to occupy my son’s time while I worked my 9 to 5.
There are probably plenty of dudes out there, you know who you are, who now look at their baby mamas differently too…
All jokes aside though, I’m lucky enough to be a part of an organization that’s still hiring.
Who knows? Maybe we’ll be colleagues by the time I can bring my son into the office again!
