PT-LawMom

My last day at work was predictably insane, including a bunch of weird, passive-aggressive last-minute attempts by my main boss to get back at me for quitting. Yes, I wore the red shoes and yes, I walked out with my head held high and no regrets. I got a full night’s sleep last night for the first time in months (no nightmares and no waking up at 3 a.m. to anxiously pre-rehearse conversations with my boss in my head).

Today I woke up at 8:00. Pumpkinhead had crawled into bed with me around 4 a.m. after Chapin left for work and we dozed peacefully together. When we woke up, he watched cartoons while I just lay there watching his beautiful face — the light blue and pink veins that dart across his cheeks, the cute curve of his nose, his buttercup lips — and enjoying the time with my precious boy. Eventually he forced me to actually get out of bed, so we got dressed and I took him to our favorite breakfast place. We were going to have a car picnic, but the manager asked us if we wanted to eat in today and I decided there was no rush so we lingered. Then we dropped off my drycleaning and headed over to CVS to pick out some eggs for the school Easter Egg hunt. Finally I dropped Pumpkinhead off at school with his eggs (tomorrow’s the hunt) and headed off to begin my day.

I did not check e-mail or answer the phone. Other than going to the doctor for a follow-up on the anti-anxiety/anti-depressant meds she prescribed by phone a few weeks back plus a vitamin level bloodwork panel, the whole day was devoted to pampering and stress relief. I got my hair cut and dyed, read a romance novel, caught up on several hours of DVR’d “Al Diablo Con Los Guapos” (Spanish Novela) and joined my mother for a mani/pedi.

Tomorrow morning my Mom and I leave for two days away and I plan to sleep a lot and enjoy myself. I also plan to take my school work because, as much as I’d like to do nothing, I really shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I could use the time away from Pumpkinhead to concentrate on a practice exam or something else that needs a block of dedicated time. My cousin is coming to spend the night tomorrow and hang out with Pumpkinhead on Saturday. She’ll probably take him to see the new Dr. Suess movie that’s coming out this weekend and I know they will have a blast.

The new job starts Monday morning. I have read several career guides and just finished Getting Things Done. I’ve purchased a radio for my office (I’ll have an office!) that will allow me to hook my iPod into it and listen to some of the calming classical music I have for studying. I’ve been using my iPod a lot at work the past two weeks since I gave notice and the music has helped keep me calm. My focus at the new job will be on organization, listening skills, managing up and balance. Kim (Merits of the Case) once said that the way she balanced law school and raising kids was to schedule absolutely everything in her life, from the largest task to the smallest. Between the GTD system and some of the tips I’ve read in the career guides, I think that is good advice that will help me feel like I have more control and help me reign in some of the stress. I’m also working in a different part of town that is near a residential area with lots of open spaces to walk and stores nearby so I can go grocery shopping or run errands on my lunch hour. I can’t tell you what a timesaver/stress reliever that will be!! Hooray for freedom!

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 at 9:49 pm and is filed under Work/Life Balance . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.