Background

Ok, well. I'm now officially one of those women that has at least taken a small pause from my "high-powered" career to spend more time with my son. Apparently this is a growing trend in the US. I know, because like all my big decisions in life, I researched quite a bit before finally deciding to do it.

I'm an Associate Director at a Fortune 50 company. Still slightly on the young side, and certainly my career is still on the up swing. In my whole life, I've always pushed for that next grade, next rating, next promotion. Maybe now I'm pushing to be the perfect Mom. I still feel I'm pushing to be the best I can at work too, just in 3 days instead of 5, but certainy I've gotten a lot of comments, including one person who suggested I was rather brazen to do this after only 1 year as an associate director. I recognize it's a trade-off, but mybe my overachieving side really thinks I can be the perfect mom and perfect AD in 3 days. Hard to tell, but I ccertainly have at least admitted I didn't feel I was doing a good enough job on the Mom side, so needed to make this change.

It was a TOUGH decision! 60% of my salary, putting myself in a risky position when the economy and unemployment are so high, never ever putting something ahead of my career in the past. It took a lot of soul-searching. In the end...well, let's see how this goes.

I admit openly that I'm extremely lucky to even have this option. Many companies wouldn't even consider a 3 day work week. On the other hand, they are getting a great resource at 60% of the pay :-) At a time when we are looking to cut and cut...maybe there is an upside for my company as well (gives me a little breathing room on my budget too!)

In general, people at work have been very supportive. Most of my colleagues have said they absolutely understood this decision, and that most of their wives (amny are male colleagues)had given up their high powered jobs to take care of their family ... and they wouldn't have changed anything. They understand how fast their children have all grown up (and most already have their children grown)....so even have sounded a little sad when they coach me to treasure every day.

I did have a few interesting interations (not all from work colleagues). One I mentioned already, saying this was a rather brazen act. Another asked had I really thought this through? What am I really going to do with my son all day? Another suggested "You know, he (your son) won't remember this once he's grown." Someone suggested it looked like I was doing this to prove a point.

Most of those comments had nothing to do with my decision to do this. Maybe I am trying to prove I can do both, so maybe I'm trying to prove a point. But at the end of the day, what I really, really wanted, was more time with my son, with my brain turned off from work.

And so...the journey begins. I start this blog so that on the most optimistic side, maybe others considering a similar decision can see what another person who has made this decision is going through. I promise to try not to "over-sell" the decision and make it as real as possible for the day I'm writing. On the least optimistic side, well, then Zak will have a good momento of what I did when he was very young.

And so it begins....