“Is she in her office?”
“Yes, but I don’t think she wants to see anyone.”
That was the conversation I overhead outside of my office the first day I returned from maternity leave with my daughter, our first child.
Eight weeks seemed to fly by but the day had come to return to work.
Dropping Jill off at the daycare that morning was like a bad dream. She was obviously in the youngest room but that age range went up to 12 month olds.
I set Jill in a swing and watched in horror as an 11 month old crawled over to Jill to start poking her. What a bully! (Ok, so in retrospect it was probably just curiosity, but darn those older kids thinking they can take advantage of the newbies!)
Following reassurances from the staff, I reluctantly left, tears streaming down my face.
Fun times were over. Gone were the blissful weeks of daytime naps (for me of course), meeting friends for lunch, matinee movies, and waking up without an alarm.
The real world was back and this time I felt like a piece of my heart was left at that daycare. How in the world would I ever make it eight hours without seeing her?!
Fast forward eighteen years and I was feeling déjà vu all over again dropping Jill off at college. Read more here...
It’s amazing how kids change not only your life, but your priorities, irrevocably forever.
One minute, we’re carefree, selfish individuals and in the instant they enter our lives, we’d rip out our hearts to protect them.
Andrew and I signed our first Wills right before Jill was born.
We updated them when our son was born.
We updated them as they grew older.
We updated them when we started our businesses.
Our lives are a constant evolution. Our circumstances change. Our estate plans should evolve with our lives too.
I finally poked my head out of the office several hours later. I was still sad but at least the tears had dried up.
Motherhood is both a fantastic blessing and a huge responsibility. I’m still taking it one day at a time.
Kristen “Locked Up In Her Office” Marks
P.S. If you have minor kids and haven’t yet legally named guardians for them, I have a free planning guide that will help. You can download it here.
