Even though I moved back “home” a few years ago when my oldest was five, I still do not have a place in the groove of my family. I actually heard a family member say the reason she was caring for my step-niece several days a week during the summer was because my new sister-in-law “worked.” When I heard that, I felt as if someone had just punched me in the gut. I work, too. Even more difficult is that I work from home. I do not work in an office away from the kids. When someone watches my kids at their house and I do not have to pay for it for once, it is truly a blessing, a blessing for which I am truly grateful.

 

I mention this because the cycle is beginning again. Summer is coming, school is ending, camp needs to be paid for, and editors do not shut down for the summer. They still give me work on deadline and I still need to complete it. It would be so fantastically wonderful (is that stating is strongly enough?) if someone would graciously offer to take my kids a few times over the summer as a favor to my husband, my wallet and myself.

 

I am not one of those who ever dumps my children off on a regular basis and expects someone to watch them all the time. I go grocery shopping with them in tow if my husband is not home from work and I need to go. I don’t go out with the girls (though I have a feeling I should!). I do as little as possible outside the home when it comes to committees and civic or church activities because it takes time away from my family, and I attend every family function the rest of the family has. Even when they (regularly) forget to tell me one of my nieces or nephews is in a concert or play and I accidentally find out at the last minute, I rearrange my schedule at the last minute and go for the kids’ sake. It’s not that they don’t invite us, but they assume we know about it because everyone else in the family knows about it because they are always dropping their children off at my mother’s house to be cared for while attending a meeting or dinner with their friends or co-workers, often at the last minute.

 

My wish this summer is to keep my business afloat in this terrible economy. I imagine I will be able to do this by working through the night on the work that requires thinking (most of my work, actually) while doing mindless administrative work during the day so I am available for my children. I know I am not the only one, but it would be nice to be able to take advantage of what the rest of my family has expected as standard procedure – their kids with their cousins at a family member’s house for free.