Me and my big head

I am going to be very vain and am posting some of the good comments from the workshop evaluations I did on Friday. I probably had over 100 people, but the little bit of encouragement helps when I have had some frustrating, long days:
· “Great presentations, loaded with facts. Very well done. Want to come to (the program)”
· “Beth made many resources I was unaware of available. This has been very practical advice moving forward in the career search”
· “Beth is awesome!” this one is short and sweet, but doesn't everyone want someone to say they are awesome once in a while? No, I didn't pay this person to slip this comment into the stack.
· “Career change session was very helpful to me. Could help me decide which way to go and understand my values and what is best for me and my family”
· “Beth did a great job. Very personable. Information packed session, and enjoyable. Thorough and encouraging, positive. Got great information.”

I will look at this some day and know I did something good. I think that is one of the reasons I continue to work part time, even when it's not about the money, so to speak.

As a SAHM (stay at home mom) one never hears the words, "wow, my toilet is utterly sanitary, you are AWESOME". "You folded my underwear into perfect squares, this is very practical for helping me locate my drawers in the morning, thank you." It just doesn't happen.

To say it's a thankless job is probably a bit much, because I know I'm appreciated, but well, today I made the hour long drive from work to Hannah's school, to sit outside of the school for another hour and 15 minutes to have her forget that horseback riding was today. She got on the bus and came home where I met her at the front door (I beat the bus home by 10 minutes). To think that I "wasted" 2 1/2 hours of my life trying to get her to a lesson where I'd sit in the car for another 2 hours... makes it seem like a thankless undertaking.

I am home now dealing with a less than enthusiastic child, cleaning her room, two cats sleeping on my bed, and a mound of laundry to fold that I didn't get to yesterday. The fact that she has to clean her room means that we are fortunate enough to have a home, I am fortunate enough to have the time to take her to lessons -- even if she doesn't always make it, we have the luxury of keeping pets, we have more than one suit of clothing to our name... we are very fortunate.

It's not thankless. I remember that when they are happy to see me, when I get the warm fuzzy feeling of being a mom and a wife, but it's still nice to have a complete stranger make my day by writing a comment about my work.