Slightly Off-Balance

I am learning so much from scaling back my career to spend more time with my family.

But let me give you some background.  I have always over-scheduled myself and wanted to be involved in everything at the same time.  I was Student Body President in middle school, Panhellenic President in college and have served on more committees since I was in the 5th grade than I can count.  So naturally, when my son started kindergarten I over-committed myself.  I signed up to be assistant room mom, field trip chaperone, classroom helper and art docent.  It ended in disaster with me having to break my commitments and be rescued by my stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) friends so I could fulfill the requirements of my day job.

This year, with my son in first grade, I didn’t sign up for ANYTHING, but did tell my son’s teacher that I would volunteer in the classroom as time permits. (See, I can learn from my mistakes!)  With my conscious decision to balance my life and devote more time to my family, I have been spending more time at my son’s school.  The trick is I am not in charge of anything, but I show up and act as a worker-bee whenever possible.  Today this worker-bee got to help teach my son’s class about bees and pollination (wanna know something interesting about bees?). 

I met the other mom in the school office and we headed for the classroom, then she continued to walk past it – where the heck was she going???  I followed her and found myself in the elementary school garden.  The garden?  Who knew?  Not me.  It was big enough to have one or two classrooms full of kids inside exploring its treasures.  But wait, there is more…  We then walked down to the “lower garden” that was even bigger.  How did I not know about this magical place?  Do other parents know this is here?  I bet the working ones don’t…

If I start a list (and I love lists) on the benefits of cutting back at work I will definitely include discovering that my son has a garden and the joy of visiting it with him!

What discoveries have you made that brought you joy?