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01/04/2018
Dr. Laura:
Thank you for telling moms they can't have it all, at least not at the same time. Twenty-nine years ago, I walked away from a fast-track, financially rewarding career path to stay home with my four children. My colleagues and boss were shocked. Some offered to find me a different daycare, and others told me I was crazy and would never find another job like that.
I was home for nine years and they were the best years of my life. After I returned to part-time work, well after the kids were in school, my husband and I worked together to juggle our schedules so that one of us could be with the kids. We never had to put them in daycare or after school care. I am now 66, have become a senior executive at the very company I left, and am making more money than I ever dreamed of. My kids are well-adjusted and productive adults and my husband and I have the relationships with them and each other I hoped to have at this stage of life. I am proof positive you can have it all. You just can't have it at the same time.
We found a way to do what was important to us. We didn't have fancy vacations or cars, but that made us closer together because we were working toward a shared commitment to our family. In some ways, I'm living my life in reverse, because now it doesn't matter if I work twelve hours a day, but it would have mattered big time back then! I am so thankful I did not miss out on what I could have never gotten back. Work will always be there. Thank you, Dr. Laura, for encouraging and supporting mothers to buck today's expectation that careers are the most important thing. You and I know better!
Mary Anne
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