Tax, family & photography

Yesterday morning I attended an annual tax update. Having three small children, a morning can be pretty unpredictable so I got up earlier than usual to make sure there is ample time. I took a warm bath to help me wake up. Having been in the corporate world for the past 12 years getting ready for work was my usual routine. The previous four years I worked from home. July last year (2010) I left that world and have been trying to find my feet in a semi-normal life where targets, deadlines and time sheets do not rule.

While waking up in my bath, the familiarity was pleasant. It is much easier to put your make-up on and head off to the office than fixing breakfast, pack lunch, the household, the kids, all the admin and challenges of being a work from home mom. That's when I started thinking of the possibility of again taking on a half day office job, maybe as a lecturer at a university or something. Tax, audit, accounting all seem so easy if you've been doing it for so long. It is easy to go back into that world, easy to get a job, easy to fall back into that. Not like trying a new venture, going into a new field where there is no fixed course. Nobody to tell you what step to take next. Oh sure, I do not love that work, but I've survived it for so long, surely I can go on doing that.

I took a seat at my dressing table and enjoyed the peace and quiet before my family starts storming me. Just then, my eldest daughter cried for me from her bedroom. Her head was aching and she was a little warm. At that moment all the negative and stressful work related feelings came flooding back. Having to leave your little ones in someone else's care when all they want is there mother nearby, especially when they are sick. Having to leave home and seeing them cry for you through the glass panel of the front door. Not knowing what goes on in their little world for most of their day. Not having the power to make decisions that influence your life, being at someone else's mercy.

Luckily, my husband could be with the kids yesterday and I had peace of mind that morning. My tax knowledge is back up to date and my CPD hours for this year is mounting up. But what matters most to me is still my family. And most important to me is the time I have with them; being part of their lives and witnessing it first hand. Can anything else ever make up for that?

My other passion in life I love holding in my hands. I will try my darnedest to keep doing just that, and having the most fun I possibly can.  It brings a break to the mundane and lets me be creative. 

Here I am doing just that, a photo sneaked in by my trusted second shooter in photography and life.  Have you ever been dared to leave the familiar and explore the unknown?  Have you ever had your stomach in a knot most of the day, but still loving every moment?

I've got to keep faith, and that is what I'll do!  Got to try to live my life as best I can.  Hope you do too!

Love much!

S.