Back to the World

It was bound to happen. It all had to come to an end at some point. After being out for seventeen days in the hospital and at home, I had to go back to work today.  So this morning I got up, took a shower, kissed my wife and newborn son and headed off to the office.

In some ways I thought it would be good. A chance to get back into the old routine. A few hours where I wouldn’t have to change a diaper or hear the sound of crying (well, a baby’s crying anyway). My wife and I had just spent the last two and a half weeks together and frankly, we have run out of things to say to each other.

However I was wrong. After a few hours I missed being home with the little boy wonder. What possible life events could I be missing. His first steps, first words, would I get home to discover that he had learned Mandarin and could palm a basketball? (ok, maybe not yet.)

Still I could take solace in that the tasks of the office are similar  to that of raising an infant. I spent my day catching up on e-mails much like I tried to catch up on laundry at home. I tried to track down missing pieces of projects like I tried to track down missing socks. I changed diapers at home much like,….well, there really isn’t anything at work to compare that to.

There were a few differences about my day from before wort noting. People came into my office not because they needed something but because they wanted to see baby pictures. Everyone also seemed to understand why I looked so tired and couldn’t form full or coherent sentences. Also at the end of the day my boss looked at the clock and told me to go home. His exact words were “Get out of here, your wife is exhausted by now, go home!” It was nice to know that though I have immeasurable amounts of work to try to catch up on that my family comes first not only to me, but to those that give me a paycheck as well. That helps.

When I got home tonight it was good to see that I hadn’t missed much. My son wasn’t solving complex math problems yet. But he does make this new type of frown that is really cute just before he soils himself. I’m glad he waited until I got home to pull that one out.

Pat Lemieux

About Pat Lemieux

Pat has it all, family, big old house, dogs, a young son and a quarter-life crisis. He blogs about trying to be who he has always been and be who he now needs to be. He enjoys 90's grunge metal, tasty local brews and the outdoors.