The hardest job in the world...

Ever since I was in high school I have had a job.  Hell, one summer I worked two jobs.

It's not that I had to work, it's that I loved earning a paycheck. I still remember getting my very first one.  My mother asked me what I was going to do with it and I said I would put it in my dresser drawer and save it to buy a home with one day.  She told me that's not how it works and then drove me to the bank to open my first savings account.  

I don't know if it was validation I was looking for, but getting a paycheck was instantly addictive. It gave me freedom, opportunity and the ability to make my own decisions.

After college, I officially entered corporate America.  After chugging an extra large dunkin' donuts coffee with loads of skim milk and sugar, my attitude was nothing short of a ready-to-work, can-do machine.

Fast forward 10 years.  

Married in NYC with a hubby and son to boot, the energy of the world has changed and suddenly I have a much different job.  And this job doesn't come with a paycheck.  

Mama/CEO*: Make sure Oliver is safe, happy and healthy. Make sure he's developing and growing.  Stimulate him, love him and cuddle him. Change all diapers, even the narsty ones. 

Being a Mama is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. TGIF means crap because I know on Saturday and Sunday morning I'm waking up at 6:30am to feed the little bugger.  I don't get Martin Luther King Day, Labor Day or the 4th of July off.  If I have a headache or stomach flu, there is no calling in sick.  I certainly can't tell my screaming baby to turn the volume down because my head feels like it's going to explode.  There are no promotions from Jr. Mama to Executive VP Mama, there is simply Mama.  

Funny thing though...

Mama/CEO is the first job I've held where pay doesn't factor in at all.  It's a job solely about helping my baby reach his full potential in life by living morally and ethically true to his heart. And that's not just a huge job, it's the most important job of my life.  

One day, I'm sure in the near future, I will yearn for the quick high of a paycheck again.  

But when that day comes, it will be a breeze compared to the job I'm in right now.

*Mama/CEO's job description is identical to and no more important than Papa/CEO's job description with a few small differences to be discussed at a later date...