There’s no place like home.
After 17 years in the workforce, and in the middle of a great career, I have decided to hit “pause”. I have been so very fortunate to have worked for a company that has changed a lot over the years but has always given me great opportunities. This is the company that sent me from San Francisco to London as a 26 year old and then brought me to NYC as a 37 year old with a husband and two kids in tow. They gave me two nice maternity leaves, supported me when I found out about J’s heart condition, and have given me great opportunities to grow as a professional over the years. With them, I have travelled to Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Manila, Dubai, lots of Europe and all sorts of other places in between.
I always thought that I would be the sort of person who doesn’t retire and has various jobs into old age because, fundamentally, I enjoy working. That said, over the last weeks I have come to realize that I need to view this as a marathon, not a sprint. And, unfortunately, I have been pretty much sprinting for the last few years. Case in point: so far this year (bearing in mind we’re not even halfway through) I have already flown over 90,000 miles, some of which was personal but the vast majority was work. And something interesting has been happening on the home front. I travelled all the time when the kids were little and I don’t think it was a big deal; they were just happy if I brought home a present. But the last few trips have felt different- I feel like they really miss me. Not to mention, I miss pretty much everything at school and in our community. I’m the one who gets the funny looks when I show up once every six months at the school. I’m the one that still can’t remember the names of some of the kids and most of the parents’ in my sons’ classes. And it’s a real shame because we have been extremely fortunate to find ourselves living next to a top NYC public school with great teachers and a fantastic set of parents and kids.
So after a lot of soul-searching, I came to the decision that I was going to resign and eventually look for a new role. After learning of my plans, my company once again stepped up and offered to put me on unpaid leave and have me come back in a “strategic consulting” role part time or however much I wish in September. I can’t believe how fortunate I am to have the time off that I want (and need) to spend with my family, deal with my ever-problematic back, catch up with friends, and do all of the things I have not been able to do in the last few years.
One of the things I love to do is proofreading and copywriting- I have signed up for a website to do freelance work on projects that people assign to me and am absolutely loving it. I’ve also been able to attend more school events in the last week than I have pretty much in the last two years since we have lived in NYC. I’ve made plans to meet up with new friends I have made in our community, something I never would have been able to do previously.
And thus begins my summer adventure. I’ll be recording it on this blog for posterity. I’m sure we will have some adventures and I’m looking forward to sharing those!
She goes flying... 