Growing up, I wanted to be a mechanic, a ballerina, veterinarian, teacher and an artist. A crazy combo of careers, I know. I loved the smell of the mechanics and could name the make and model of most cars on the road by the time I was 10. In high school my senior year I had an internship at a local accounting office. If you knew me growing up, accounting was probably the very last career I should have been interning for. Math, sitting at a desk and using spread sheets are just a few of the reasons I would fail at this job.
When it was time for me to declare a major in college, I took the old “Business Administration” route which means you really don’t know what you want to do but this degree is general enough that you will be ok. I had an emphasis on retail which was a good fit for me. Well, that is if I would have attended the class. When my husband graduated from college, we moved to Wisconsin and I never finished my degree. I had a job as a manager at a boutique in the mall. In Wisconsin, I worked at an office which was, a fail. I then worked a few retail jobs including Family Video. When I found out I was pregnant, I ended up quitting my job and becoming a stay at home mom.
This was not something we had talked about before we were pregnant. Which looking back, this seems to be a theme for us. I am not a planner by nature and my hubby is pretty chill and goes with the flow. (That’s how we ended up in Wisconsin and taking the first job my husband interviewed for. But I digress.)
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be a stay at home mom but for what I was making at Family Video, our search for a daycare quickly revealed I would not have much left of my paycheck if we went that route. I found out I LOVED being a stay at home mom. It was a definite sacrifice, we cut the cord on cable long before Netflix was a thing. We didn’t take a blissful babymoon, or any elaborate vacations really. Our cars were not top of the line and we didn’t own a home. Again, we are not planners by nature so even this pregnancy was somewhat unplanned.
And when our second daughter was born 17 months later, I was thrilled! We somehow survived on one income and I am ever so thankful we did. Sure there were some lean times and rough days but I was happy to be home with my children. When our youngest went to kindergarten, many of my friends returned to the workforce. Of course I had good days and bad days, just like they did over the years, but I decided that I was happy to stay home. Last fall, I was asked by an aquaintance to take a job at our local paint store helping customers pick paint colors. I decided to give it a whirl and after 9 months I knew that working at the paint store was not for me. So I quit my job and returned to being a stay at home mom.
This past spring I started a side business that is flexible with hours yet allows me to be home if I need to. It seems there are always random days off, snow days, sick kid days and even the occasional mental health for my kids day. My husband works from home so there is always someone here and I am so glad. I know not everyone has the option to be a stay at home mom and I am so thankful that I was able to. And I also know that not everyone wants to be a stay at home mom. For me, following our path one step at time showed me that my perfect job was at home with my kids.
