Advise From A Caterpillar

"Who are you?" said the caterpillar. "I- I hardly know, sir, just at present-at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then."
~ Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

I know how Alice Felt! This time last year I was on my last few weeks of maternity leave. My first born was not yet 3 and my second babe 10 months old; I was so unsure of what path I wanted my life to take. I loved my part time job as a support worker for young mothers working toward their high school graduation. However, I wanted to continue to create a home environment where I could make our food from scratch, garden, knit and spend everyday watching my little ones grow and help them explore our world. It was going to be a tricky balance once I was back to work! I felt I needed to go back and see if everything would work itself out, or not.

After one month of being back I was exhausted,and didn't have the energy for the girls I worked with they so deserved. This combined with: continuing to nurse on my breaks at work (and at night), fall colds, always feeling "behind" at home (despite a very supportive and helpful husband) and the fact that my job brought in very little money after daycare was paid for, the choice was made easier.

But...how much of my identity was tied up in what I did for a living? Turns out a lot! When quitting my job seemed like the best option my spirit, my ego chimed in telling me I was about to give away something others praised me for and become "just a Mom" (man, do I hate it when anyone says that! Seriously!) The thing is, I know how important unpaid labour and homemaking is, so I needed to let any judgement from random (or not so random) people go and do what was best for me and my family. The final bit of advise that made my decision to quit working came from my amazing Grandma, who also lives downstairs in our basement suit. She sad, " Kelsi, when you are my age, you will look back at when you had small children and I promise, you will not regret quitting your job to spend more time with your kids". She was right (she usually is) so I gave my two week notice. 

I was also inspired by other lovely Mom bloggers like  Soulemama and Boho girl who seemed so awesome, earthy and crafty. I have thought about blogging about my own journey to connect, inspire and be inspired by like minded souls, but I'm a really privet introvert and technology scares me, so I was hesitant to take the plunge! This weekend in Victoria I happened to run into the Denise of Boho girl and had great little chat with her and her beautiful family! It got me thinking, That lovely lady with whom I just had a nice chat with, and who has inspired me countless time through her blog would have remained just another stranger in the city had she not shared so much of her life via the Internet. So here I am, a blogger too...how weird is that! Now, all I have to do is click publish...come on Kels, just click it...Ok I'm going to click it now!