It makes me laugh to think I am now a "working mother" - yet another label given to me that I don't know quite where to put. I sincerely doubt AH had a second of wonderment about his tag of "working father" - ahem, I'm just saying. My experience so far has proven to me that hey, media, there is no right solution for everyone. Because so far, I LOVE being a working mother. It's no secret that I was losing my mind here at home. The situation we are rocking right now where I work my 20 hours a week (9 am to 1 pm) is pretty damn ideal. I spend the mornings learning and talking and thinking and my afternoons cleaning and playing and watching "Square Pegs" - (did you see they just released it on DVD? I read it, squealed and immediately signed up on Netflix. Disc One arrived yesterday, full report coming soon.) I know it's only Day 3 but I like it, I really like it. To my great relief, Simone seems to have taken very well to daycare and though her caregiver wears a Rascall Flatts t-shirt and eats Bo-Jangles for lunch (my super snobby reasons for being hesitant about this daycare) she seems happy as a clam and doesn't cry when we leave her or seem a different child. This reassures me. And her little face haunted me my first day at work but not so much now. I'm too dang busy. And I really like my job! So far, I hasten to add, the first week being the week of orientation and tours and no responsibility. But today I was hanging out in the Locked Stacks with all the beautiful old books to precious to leave out for the public and flipping through the art books - working in a arts focussed library is such a dream come true. I share my office with the man who is responsible for the DVD collection and we share a similar taste and have long conversations about film. Plus, I get to see what's new before it hits the shelves. My "To Watch" list just got very long. I won't lie - I'm partially in this library gig because I like having access to the stuff, the behind the scenes rooms, the equipment and a fistful of keys. They treat me like a grown-up member of the staff and as such, my next few weeks are nothing but training and meetings. It's a super useful gig and I'm pretty lucky. The two gigs - work and mom-hood - are both very manageable when part-time. I suspected that. Things will change when I have full days of classes and exams and homework too but for now, it's perfect. Hoo-rahhhh!