All change! (again)

In February I returned to work after 10 years of raising the children, mostly because of a financial need.

Today I made the difficult decision to hand my notice in, with no solid plans for the future. "You did what?!" I hear you cry.

Yes, I quit my job. A job that I rather liked and enjoyed.

It wasn't a decision I took lightly as I know that the money has been really useful but in my mind it's for the best.

Many an evening I have been sitting on the driveway waiting for hubby's bus to turn up so that I can go to work. I've told the children "I can't do that with you because I have to get ready for work" far too many times. I've heard "Do you really have to go to work Mum?" more times than I can count. I've stressed over how I can get to work when hubby's working away without having to pay a fortune in childcare and work for nothing. His office is moving soon meaning that he'll be even later home from work. When I get home from work I go straight to bed so we rarely have time for a full conversation.

The moment of clarity came on Saturday evening. One of my clients is in hospital so most of my shifts that day had been cancelled and I wasn't needed to work until 7.30pm so we had an unexpected day together. My husband was really pleased. We popped to a local park for 1/2 an hour, had lunch out to celebrate the childrens' great school reports…...and then I spent the rest of the day asleep on the sofa, exhausted from a busy week. After hearing hubby moaning to the children about our wasted day I realised that we couldn't go on like this.

Yes, we need some money coming in. Yes, it has been great working again and meeting some lovely people, knowing I'm making a difference to their lives but my family need me and they come first. The children are still young and they are growing up too fast as it is.

I could have stayed in my current job until I found something during school term times but I didn't want to waste any more time so I announced to hubby that enough was enough, I was quitting. He took it surprisingly well.

My manager was very understanding too and has said that the door is always open for me should I decide in the future that the time is right to return.

So, right now I have nothing planned except spending time with my children and husband. If I find one of those elusive term-time jobs then so be it but until then we'll cope somehow! My children need me more than we need the money.

This quote sums it up well for me.