Ten Years Earlier ...

Ten years ago, after being an infertility patient, I was thrilled about being pregnant – very pregnant, but thankfully my size during pregnancy doesn’t enter into this story. Wait, you say, “Doesn’t she have three teenage kids?” Yes, I do. They have two moms -- their biological mom (who I will never replace!) and me. Over the course of a year they spend about half the time at their mom’s house and about half the time here. The four adults they refer to as “parental units” have learned to work well together and have made the kids’ best interest the over-riding factor in most (no one’s perfect) decision making. So back to ten years ago …

I loved being pregnant, but really hated my job in the corporate world. The biggest reason for my loathing was not the company I worked for, but the very fact that making money was the goal of the company. What kind of a business was that? How dare they put making money ahead of caring for people and making a positive impact on the world! As you can see, I was NEVER going to be happy in corporate America, where making money is at the heart of every job. I could spend several posts waxing on about why this is really a fine goal (in theory commerce is important for people to be able to live, after all) AND why I loathe the entire system. But that is off subject, so I will keep this blog moving.

When Austin was born, I left on maternity leave with the knowledge that I would have to go back, if not to that job, to some job with a full-time income. In the short run, I thoroughly enjoyed being a first time new mom at 40 and felt I was in the prime of my life.