Break time

Back when I was in the recognized working world full-time, I would get through my days by looking forward to break times. During the day, I’d have at least one planning period plus lunch during my work hours, and then I’d be off by four at the latest. From week to week, I’d look forward first to weekends, and then to holidays: Memorial Day, Labor Day, a week at Thanksgiving and Spring Break, two weeks at Christmas. And the ultimate break for all teachers was, of course, summer holidays, after which a fresh, new year would start with fresh, new students.

I lived on this schedule for thirty years, mind you. Thirty years is a long time. What is it that behavioralists say? A habit takes 28 days to form? So what happens after 28 (plus two) YEARS? You get my point, I think.

One of my biggest adjustments to being a mother is not only the lack of vacation, but the lack of getting “off” work at all. We moms are on the clock 24 hours a day, seven days a week. While Parks was CIO last night until 9? I was on the job. When Parks woke up at 12:15 am with a bad dream? I was on duty. When he yelled for me at 7:15 this morning? Yep. And even during those times when he’s asleep, both naptime and bedtime, I’m on edge, listening to every breath through the monitor, wondering if those murmurs are signs of awakenings or merely sleep cycle changes. I don’t think I’ve entered a really deep sleep in over two years now.

The beauty of this kind of “work” schedule is that, when breaks do come, I really, REALLY cherish them. Cal gives Parks his bath every night, and it’s a blessed twenty minutes after a long day. He’s also good about taking him on Saturday mornings, giving me a chance to, oh I don’t know, empty the dishwasher or vacuum the rugs.

And when I’m really lucky, the grandparents ask to take him off our hands for a night or two. We don’t have parents here in town, so we don’t have the luxury that some have of being able to drop Parks off for a quick night out or an afternoon doctor’s appointment. And let’s just say that we don’t have the, um, financial status to be able to afford regular babysitters. I think we’ve hired three -tops- since Parks was born, those all for work overlaps or unavoidable appointments.

So overnights are big deals. We’ve done it now four times, the latest being this week, when Cal’s parents watched Parks for a few nights because of some scheduling conflicts between my (paying) job and Cal’s. We went to Tallahassee for two nights a year ago while our parents split the responsibility for Parks, as they did when we went to St. Petersburg for a conference for Cal about a month ago. The fourth was during Cal’s Thanksgiving break last year, time we used to finish up our ridiculously ridiculous house-painting project that had, at the time, been going on over five months.

Four times. Twelve nights out of 800. And we, I know, are lucky to have had those twelve nights.

I don’t know what my point is except to say that those who think that being a stay-at-home mom is the easy way out, the picture of a lazy housewife propped up in front of a soap opera on a weekday afternoon, don’t know what they are saying. Even without the constant housework (that I rarely do) and cooking dinner every night (it was tomato sandwiches this evening), it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.

I guess the old, cheesy cliche is true, and that the best things in life really are worth working for.