Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Last week, I was on furlough from KARE. I never knew what the word "furlough" meant until this year but instead of focusing on the negative aspects of being furloughed, I took the opposite approach.
I spent the entire week with my daughter and focused all my energy towards her. We went to Chicago and Michigan to visit family, which was great but we also spent some much-needed quality time together at home.
I was able to take my little girl to classes and events that I normally would miss because of work. That alone made the week off worth it.
This all sounds glorious and wonderful but one class that I went to with my daughter reminded me that I may need to spend even more time with her.
We were at an ECFE class that my daughter has been going to for a year. I had only been to the class once before. Our babysitter normally takes my daughter to the class.
We were the first to arrive and my daughter swiftly walked into the classroom and immediately began to play. I didn't know any of the other kids or parents in the class but I had met the teacher once before.
I started to notice that people were talking quietly around me and quickly realized that people were trying to figure out exactly who I was. The teacher picked up on this and told everyone that I was my daughter's mother. I have to admit that this was very strange to me but I understood.
Most people thought that our babysitter was my daughter's mother, which is a huge compliment to our babysitter. They all thought that I was my daughter's aunt!
I had lots of mixed feelings about this including the fact that I felt guilty for not being able to be with my daughter more, but I was also happy to hear that our babysitter is so caring and loving.
Guilty or not, I still cherished every second I spent with my daughter last week!
(Copyright 2009 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)