Focusing
I just sent the following email to my county Democratic Party:
Friends,
As some of you know, my daughter Peeper has a congenital heart defect (she was born with two small holes in her heart - atrial and ventricular septal defects) which we've been monitoring closely since it was diagnosed when she was a few days old.
Although many of these defects resolve on their own without any intervention, hers are not showing much sign of improvement, so they will have to be repaired surgically.
She is scheduled to have open-heart surgery at Nearby Medical Center on March 16 to close the holes.
We're told that this is the most common congenital heart defect, and that the surgery is quite "routine" (perhaps for the surgeon, but certainly not for Peeper or us!) and low-risk (about the same as an adult having their gall bladder removed).
That said, I'm sure that those of you who are parents remember what it's like to have a newborn, let alone one with Peeper's health concerns.
Knowing that we are also facing surgery and her subsequent recovery, it has become obvious that I need to get some things "off my plate," so that I can be a better mother for Peeper.
Therefore, effective immediately, I am taking a leave of absence from my duties and responsibilities as MyPartyJob, so that I can concentrate my time and energy (physical, mental and emotional) on Peeper and Shrike as our family faces this challenge.
This has not been an easy decision to make, but I have realized that I would be doing both my family and the party a disservice if I were to attempt to continue to "do everything," because I would be unable to do any of it very well.
I do not plan to permanently resign my position, but I need to take a break for at least a few months, and possibly through the end of this election cycle.
As Peeper recovers from her surgery, her heart condition is resolved and she gets a bit older, I plan to resume the duties and responsibilities of MyPartyJob but I hope that you will understand that my family must be my priority right now.Thank you again for your understanding,
Whozat
I'm sure that it was a difficult decision, but it sounds like a wise move for the time being.
ReplyDeleteI know that you hate doing that, but you really had no other choice. When you get past all this, life as usual can resume. Though "as usual" never really exists, does it?
ReplyDeleteI realized, probably six weeks or so ago that I should've done this from the beginning - just announced, while I was pregnant, that I was taking off six months or so when she was born.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't really comfortable doing it at that point, but once the surgery was certain, I knew I had to.
It's a huge relief to not have to worry about that stuff, and to not have to pretend to care about it.
Now, I just have to get busy on some website work that I've let fall behind over the past week and a half, so that I can wrap up a big redesign and get it launched before the surgery!