A Day of Mixed Feelings

Today is a strange day. It's a happy day and a sad day for me.

What's to be happy about? Today is the first day in more than eight months that I can be counted among the people who have a job. Yes, you read that right. I have a job, and my first day is today. My new employer is a software company that created a program for newspapers. Big surprise there. (Hey, I tried to get out of the biz, but for better or worse it just didn't happen).

My new gig is, however, much different from previous ones. For starters, it's a part-time job under contract - for now. Let it be known that I am absolutely committed to doing whatever it takes to make it transition to full-time. Another thing that's way different: I get to work from home when I'm not on the road. Yes, you read that right too - I'll be working from home and will be back on the road. Hopefully someday soon I'll be less apprehensive about both.

What's to be sad about? Today is also the first day that both Charlie and Jamie return to daycare full-time. To recap, we started sending both boys to a daycare in South Jersey full-time on June 18, but I lost my last job 10 days later. They kept going to school, but to save money we decided to send them both three days a week (M, W, Th) beginning on August 6. My next job proved elusive, so on October 1 we pulled Jamie out of daycare completely.

So Jamie has been home with me every day for more than five months, until today. My little one's been gone for less than an hour and I already miss him terribly.

Now granted, staying home and babysitting wasn't the most joyous of joys every day. Some days, particularly Tuesdays when I had both boys and Jena tended to work late, were a grind. But we also had a lot of fun. We went to the Philadelphia Zoo several times, and spent some hours in the Snake House (Charlie's favorite) and the Monkey House (Jamie's favorite). We've had lunch at Chick-Fil-A so they could play on the indoor playground. We've checked out some of the local parks in Cherry Hill, Cinnaminson and Palmyra, and went to Franklin Square Park in Philly many times. We've also gone out on some bike rides. And we've made numerous trips out to the stores together.

I'm sure we'll keep doing those things, just not today.

Ah, some more good news. I just heard from my better half that Jamie was "thrilled" when he was dropped off at daycare and took off for the toys. He's got other kids his age to play with. He'll probably love not being pushed around all day by his older brother (but if he wants a refresher he could just walk down the hall to Charlie's room for a little bullying). Speaking of which, I'm sure Charlie will love being with his school friends every day of the week now. It sounds like they're both happier there.

But they are sorely missed here.