Six months ago, I worked the last day in my 19+ year career at National Grid. I honestly do not recall much from that Friday. By the end of that week, I had all my farewell lunches and packed my memories to take home. So, my last day was rather anti-climactic. I wasn't disappointed though as I left a fulfilling career to start a new life - a life I had long dreamed about.
Being a stay at home dad has been all I had imagined. I love preparing the family's meals, helping with homework, doing the housework and being more active with school activities. I've always been a homebody which is a characteristic of a person born in the Year of the Sheep and someone born under the sign of Cancer. I am both a Sheep and a Cancer so perhaps this astrology stuff has some merit.
I had not originally planned to start my studies towards a graduate degree in education so soon. But, I got ambitious and anxious to start my new profession. As I started classes in early September, I began to realize how difficult it was to be a student again. A wonderful vacation in Hawaii and loss of internet for two weeks following Hurricane Sandy did not help with staying on schedule with schoolwork. But, as any determined college student would do, I crammed to complete research papers, keystone assignments and other semester-ending work and got great grades in my three classes.
I underestimated how much work online classes can take. Since the professors provide no instruction (at least in my first seven online courses), students have to do all their own research. In my case, I am actually very interested in learning my new field of study and my research usually takes me off on interesting but time consuming tangents. I need to get more disciplined to focus on the specific tasks at hand.
It's hard to believe it's been six months since I left my career. I am a bit surprised that I really do not miss what I did. I do miss my friends and colleagues but have maintained relations through lunches, emails and facebook. I certainly haven't been bored at home with my busy schedule. Instead, I am busier now than I was at work... and I'm loving it!
