That'll Be Small Fries for Me

So I've been back to work for one week. This is part of two transition weeks. My kids haven't started school yet so we have worked out a patchwork of care options for them--6 days at my husband's workplace childcare center, two days with Montessori Papa, and two days with their grandmother.

As I transition from stay-at-home motherhood to earning-a-paycheck motherhood, from teaching to working more administratively, my kids are transitioning, too. It's a bit confusing right now for them. Where will they be going today? Then when they are totally discombobulated, they both will transition into their respective schools and our "normal" life will begin.

It's an uncomfortable transition. I know that I will miss teaching. I don't have a work station or computer yet (and I'm a bit of a nester). I don't like several aspects of my husband's workplace childcare (I mean really they can't get through the day without TV, gummi bears and computer games? I resort to those things with I need a break. If I'm paying someone to take care of my children, I expect them to be more resourceful.). I'm in that interesting, yet uncomfortable place, where I'm learning all the names and stories of dozens of coworkers. I miss having fun with my kids and the wiggle room that being a SAHM provides. I miss my mommy friends. And yet in all of this, I am enjoying having a bit of space. It's coming out in the weirdest way.

My workplace is near a McDonald's. I'm not a big fan of McDonald's. The food doesn't taste that great going down, for the most part, and it doesn't make me feel fine afterwards either. I try to avoid fast food restaurants on principal. However, I have stopped there for a snack everyday that I have taken the bus to work (which is most days because my husband has been using the car to take the kids to his office). I get some fries to eat on the way to the bus stop.

I know that I am doing this because it is something I would avoid in my normal mommy life, so I'm taking advantage of these two weeks of relative liberation to gorge myself on junk food. Bizarre, but still enjoyable.