This stay at home mama is back to work

Isaac taking me to lunch on my first day

I have literally had a job since I was 15 years old. First the mall, then the Air Force and then a BCM at Bank of America. Each of my jobs I loved for different reasons and I had always been a very happy woman who worked. On the other hand when the decision that was best for our family when Isaac got orders to Korea was for me to become a stay at home mom I was glad that for the first time since our son was 6 weeks old I would get to spend all day every day with him again. I was so excited and honestly thought it would be much easier than it was for me. I will say it now and a million times over BEING A STAY AT HOME MOM IS WORK AND IT'S HARD.  I actually think for me it is harder than working. No matter how challenging it's been it has been rewarding in more ways than I can ever put into words. I am so blessed that we had the luxury of me being able to stay home for almost 2 years.

Honestly I would be a stay at home mom forever if I could but my husband gave me an amazing gift in 2013. I had the ability to leave the military and figure out what I wanted to do with my life and career, no pressure to find a job, no forcing me to go to grad school before I was ready just let me explore my options.  As you may or may not know Isaac has had a few injuries in the last few years, some more major than others. In 2012 He had a knee surgery that we thought he recovered well from but in hindsight he never got back to normal. He hasn't cycled since which he really loved, he can't run, walking to far hurts sometimes and now we have another MRI for what they think is a tear in his meniscus. The amount of pain that I see him in every week is so hard. Knowing that he cannot do what he needs to do to keep his career without medical intervention and constant profiles for pt tests put me in a position I didn't think I would be in but who can tell me they wouldn't do whatever they could for their spouse.

Anyway I want to give Isaac the same gift he gave me and that is to let him leave the military and career he has dedicated 10 years to so that he can heal properly, do what he needs to do for his pain management and figure out what he wants to do next. At the end of this tour in Japan we are going to close this chapter and begin a new one. We aren't sure where yet and we don't have all of the answers but we do know that much. With that being said 4-5 years was waaaay to long of a gap to have on my resume so I decided to go back to work so that he can have the same opportunity I had with no pressure.

The career opportunities here are severely limited and there are only 2 BCM positions on this base and both were taken which sucks but I LOVE banking and wanted to continue it if I could so I decided to take a position as a Banking Center Service Representative and postpone my second bachelors degree and go back to my Masters of Science in Management program. Although it is a step down from my last position I am confident that we will be alright going back to the states and the step down is easily explainable since THERE WERE ZERO AVAILABLE POSITIONS lol

I am loving my new position, the company (DOD Community Bank), my coworkers and my managers. It is the most supportive environment I have ever worked in and thankfully I have heard many times that I am catching on quickly. I have only been working a week and I've already worked with customers, helped with a first grade field trip and been pretty involved. I started training on Monday and again, what a wonderful environment. I couldn't have imagined going back to work after 2 years to a better place but I know that everything happens for a reason and that this is the place I am supposed to be for now for whatever reason.

I'm still getting used to working, actually having to be places at a certain time again (that flexible sahm schedule was a bonus) and looking at computers and listening to someone other than a 3 year old all day and I must say that this mama is TIRED! Although the position is part time 30 hours I work every day from 8:15 to 3:15 but some days its 4 and on Fridays it's until 5:30 and every third Saturday so really it ends up being about 35-39 hours which is much less part time and more full time but I honestly am glad because I love it. But setting us up for the chapter is more worth it than I could ever express and I know what I did it for. I thought I would be sad but I actually am enjoying being back in the professional world, dressing up and being in banking again.

 Isaac has been very supportive, everyone including Logan has helped me keep the house cleaned Also thanks to my dear friend Nikita for keeping my dear sweet love bug while we figure out exactly where would be the best fit for him. He's having way too much fun over there lol

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