Work Hard, Play Hard, and Appreciate your Blessings 30 August, 2010
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear2, Slice of Life.1 comment so far
Everyday I dwell on the hardships of work and coping with baby. Everyday I lament silently about having a hard life. But instead of groaning and feeling unhappy about it every waking and sleeping moment, why don’t I just work hard, play hard and appreciate my blessings!?
I have a great hubby, one who loves me, dotes on me and who equally loves our baby gal.
I have a lovely baby, she who laughs heartily and fit and fiddily jumps with joy when she is happy.
I have good parents who remain healthy so that they don’t become additional burdens to their children.
I have good colleagues and bosses who shares my workload and we can help each other out.
I am glad that I am healthy and can eat, sleep and shit normally.
Life is great, so why should I keep thinking about the negative things? Time is precious and instead of worrying and feeling grumpy, shouldn’t I smile more often with my darling baby and hubby. Afterall, I already have all the best things in life, that is being healthy, myself and my loved ones as well.
- Dear2
The Woes of A FTWM 30 August, 2010
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear2, Slice of Life.3 comments
Hands up to those who are FTWMs? You know what a FTWM is only when you are one. Full time working mum. That is what I am.
It’s really hard.
6am: Alarm clock rings and wake up for the day. Drink milo, prepare for work
6.45am: Feeds baby
7.45am: Get ready to leave the house for granny’s place
8.30am: Kisses baby goodbye and leaves for work
9.20am: Start working
12noon: Pump and have a quick lunch
5pm: Pump and continue slogging at work
7.30pm: Still cannot finish the work, but gotto knock off liao. Eats dinner in the car.
8.30pm: Reaches granny place and fetches baby home
9pm: Reach home. Baths super quickly and plays with baby. Feeds and baby is off to lala land.
10.30pm: Blow dry hair den can go to sleep.
2am: Wakes up for night pump
6am: And it’s the next day again
Everyday for 5 days a week, this is the typical lifestyle. At work, I hardly have time to appreciate the day and it’s 6pm in a flash. Mad rush at work, yet work is never ending. And worse still, you have a boss who thinks highly of you enough to want to assign you more responsibilities (= more work!). Many will clamour for this chance to shine, but not for me, a FTWM who just wants to perform only her current duties and want nothing more (pls dun give me this chance, you can give it to those who desire….)
Do I have a choice not to work? The most depressing thing is that you know that this income cannot be without, and you cannot say quit then quit. Hang on, and grit your teeth – others will say. But only FTWMs will understand how helpless this only sounds, when it’s the same day in and day out.
But hang on, grit your teeth – this is what I will still have to tell myself, and my heart feels like crying even when I blast my voice and sing out loud.
- Dear2
Last few days of student life 23 August, 2010
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear1, For Him For Her, Slice of Life.1 comment so far
I haven’t been writing any new posts for the past 2 months becos I’m really really busy with my thesis. And with the submission of my thesis last week, I can say that my life as a full time student has finally come to an end, after 22 long years of being one. That’s 6 yrs of primary school, 4 yrs of secondary school, 2 yrs of junior college, (2.5 yrs of NS), 4 yrs of undergraduate, and 4 yrs of postgraduate.
The past 4 yrs has been really eventful for me. Look at our milestones chart and you will know what I mean. During these 4 yrs, Dear2 and I embarked on the next chapter of our relationship. We bought our house, did the renovation and equippage, moved in, got married, went on our honeymoon, and had our first child. All while I was still technically a student. Financially, we were a little tight. But we survived, somehow.
So, it was with lots of mixed emotions when I did my ‘de-equipping’ last week. I sorted out my admin and submitted my thesis. I canceled my season parking with the school. I cleared up my desk. I backed up my data in my work computer. I packed up my pencil, my thermal flask, my earphones, my Risk dices, my Japanese textbooks, and my webcam. And while doing all these, I realized that I am really leaving school for good. It was indeed my last day at school. And not only that, it was my last day as a full time student.
Do I miss being a student? Probably not at this point of time. After all, I am pretty sick of all those studying, exams, labs, projects, assignments and such. Plus I’ll get to earn more money once I start work. Will I miss being a student? That got me thinking for a while. I probably will.
So it was with a bittersweet huff that I cranked my car engine one last time in that familiar school car park at 7pm in the evening. I drove off to meet Dear2 and pick up Baby1, knowing that I had left my independent and self-managed student life behind.
I’m happy for everything that I had achieved, especially during my postgraduate years. I was able to devote much time and attention towards my personal life such as planning our wedding and building a family. I was able to stay home one morning to fix a leaking pipe. I was able to accompany Dear2 to work almost every day when she was pregnant. I was able to help out during her maternity leave and not worry about arriving late at school and leaving early. I was able to dabao dinner for Dear2 almost every night since she went back to work.
Dear2 and I had managed to achieve many firsts over the past few years. Now, with yet another new chapter ahead of us, let us look forward together and continue creating many more firsts in the years to come.
-Dear1
p.s. Pardon the sloppy language, I’m just writing this as the thoughts streamed through my mind. I think that it’ll better represent how I feel if I don’t make too many editorial corrections.
