Don’t be confused, that’s not Charlie. I just like the photo.
If you have ever worked the usual Monday to Friday grind, you know what it feels like on a Sunday night.
You are bummed the weekend is over.
You have a lot on your mind as you get ready for the new week.
You wish it would all just slow down a bit.
That is how my current run of parental leave is starting to feel.
Now before you start giving me grief about feeling bad that a 6-month run of being away from work is coming to an end, I get it.
I am a lucky guy to be experiencing this journey with my baby boy. I am not looking for sympathy. I am just starting to get that feeling that it is all starting to slip away, and at a very fast pace.
It seems like yesterday that is was April and I was just getting my feet wet.
With August coming to an end, everything is starting to feel like a Sunday night.
More and more I am thinking about work and being back at the office. All those tasks that were easy to put off all summer are becoming much more important.
Yep, seems like reality is coming around the corner.
If I were Stephen Harper, maybe I could just prorogue the whole thing another month? Well, we all don’t get to avoid the inevitable. In the real world, good things end and we return to normal.
Each week that goes by, more and more issues are coming up that need decisions.
What are we doing for child care? How are we paying for it?
Do the boys need back-to-school clothes?
How is the car going to fit in the garage when it snows?
Oh and of course, nearing the end of parental leave means the tank of money is starting to hit the empty sign. How long can we run on fumes?
So much to think about when all you want to do is soak up the last few weeks with your baby boy.
Even that is taking off like a rocket. He is not really a baby anymore. Nearing 11 months, he is now all over the house, crawling, cruising, rumbling etc.
He eats everything, mumbles constantly and day-by-day is losing all of the features of a baby. He is a boy.
A boy who is ready for that next step. The next step of leaving home and going to daycare.
We are not set up in a way where we can afford for one of us to stay home full-time once the parental leave is over. Canada has been good to us with a full year away from work and with our baby. We are very grateful for that.
Now the baby needs more. He needs to be around new people, other kids and learn new things.
Daycare has been an excellent experience for our older son. He is quite the mature guy and even though we as parents would like to take all the credit, we have to admit daycare and his teachers have had a big part in that.
So back to feeling like it is all slipping away.
The end of August is always a time for feeling like change is coming. It is a time when the summer fun ends and the cold, hard, reality of school begins.
Even as an adult, you can smell it in the air. You remember that feeling when you have to go back to school.
You remember that feeling of Sunday night and wishing Monday morning was 100 hours away instead of eight.
It is a feeling that just never goes away.
I still have just over a month left on parental leave and I am going to do my best to enjoy every last moment of it. This dedicated time at home with the kids may never happen again, so I need to really appreciate it and soak it up.
September is going to be a cross-roads month in our family for so many reasons. We have had a good run of relaxed and normal. It is time to shake it up.
Parental leave is starting to get that Sunday night feeling. Luckily for us, what lies ahead is going to be an awesome Monday morning over and over and over again.
Bring it on. Everyone here is ready.
Time to start the next chapter in our book of parenthood.
