COLUMN: Child's illness tips balance between work and home

 I write. It’s what I do, what I thoroughly enjoy. Writing for newspapers has been part of my life for more than 35 years.

I’ve been a mom for almost 16 years. From the time I was very young, I knew I wanted to be a mom. 

These two aspects of my life have never come into conflict as they have over the past few weeks and I found myself having to make a painful decision: I have to stop working full time. Please allow me to explain what’s happened.

My nearly 16-year-old son had a total hip replacement last week. He came home over the weekend and is doing well, but he is a bit limited in his ability to get around and occasionally needs some pretty strong pain medicine. So someone’s got to be at home with him for the two weeks he’ll be out of school. After that, he’ll be getting some fairly intensive rehab, which will mean many trips to school, physical therapy and follow-ups with the surgeon.

The logistics are almost overwhelming.

In the quiet times of my day, I prayed for guidance. 

Sharing the story of people’s lives gives me a great sense of satisfaction and makes me smile.

Being involved in the lives of my son and daughter brings joy to my soul.

With the birth of my son – my first child – I made a commitment to be the kind of mom that mine was to me and my brothers. She was available for us. She was active in our lives. She played chauffeur for many after-school activities and kept on us about our homework. She was there to hug us in our disappointments and to weather our teen angst and anger. I never felt as though we were an imposition on her life. We were the priority in her life for many years.

I promised to be the same for my children.

So I need to step aside and step up to whatever care my son will need. It’s a promise I made long ago and one I’m happy to stand behind.