A Not-So-Shocking Confession

I’m a big advocate of looking for fun wherever it is trying to hide. That’s why I put ‘squeezing pleasure from business’ in my blog header. I’m not afraid to admit that I like working, I’m good at what I do, and in case you haven't guessed from my right-leaning rantings about various financial topics, as a pleasant side effect I also happen to bring home some pretty decent bacon. (I can’t fry it up in a pan because cooking's a mere one on a long list of wifely tasks that I suck at. This is why the gods invented Boston Market.)

Which brings me to the not-so-shocking confession. I love to work. An only child by birth, I am WAY too selfish to stay home full time. I did the part time thing for a few years and I will always treasure those days. But the part time was hampering me from getting the assignments and advancement that I wanted, and it started to bother me more and more, so after a few years, I threw in the towel and went back full time.

Aside from the intellectual stimulation piece, on the superficial level (and I’m big into the shallow, or I wouldn't be on pins and needles every week waiting for my US Weekly) I like putting on nice clothes and going to a place where I can play with other grownups. For me, I’ve found that raising children is rewarding and fulfilling and all that, in the long term. But I also found that everyone who had so much helpful child rearing advice for me when I was pregnant neglected to tell me until I was knee-deep in the shizzy that it can also be mundane, stressful, and even maddening on a day-to-day basis.

If it wasn’t, the nannies working for all those Greenwich stay-at-home hedge-fund-manager-wife types wouldn’t be pulling down so much coin. If one’s primal urge isn’t to leave one's palatial mansion to partake in corporate gamesmanship, weekly facials is certainly a fair substitute. I’m not here to judge anybody.

But as much as I generally like my work, the fun has been in short supply lately because I’m not a huge fan of the job I’m in right now. It's an operations job that I'm learning a lot from, but I don't really like, unlike my previous brand management role where I was excited to go into the office every day. Luckily, my company rotates us to new positions every 2 years or so, so I only have about one year left on my sentence before I get released to a new job for good behavior.

Having said that, I am now in the midst of a business trip to London that has made these past few days ridiculously ripe for some fun-squeezins. Business class airline ticket paid for by company...7 1/2 hour flight...meeting all day Friday…is it not blazingly obviously that it begged for a weekend stayover?

Any mom, whether she works or stays at home, can definitely appreciate what a rare and precious gift the notion of having a whole 24 hours completely to yourself. And that, ladies and ladies (are there any guys besides Manager Dad who read my blog?) is what tomorrow is going to be all about.

So in the next post: musings on the UK.