i once prayed for patience.. and im not usualy one to pray.. and a week later i found myself jobless and a 24-7 mom to 4 children ages 7,5,4,1.5...
no i spend my days looking for work.. wiping noses.. changing diapers.. and spending prescious time with my children that i hadnt spent with them in YEARS!! possibly the entire lifetime of the 3 younger ones..

i have often found myself wishing for a do-over of the last 6 months.. but i just began to ponder wether or not i would take it...

i was spending 12 hours a day and 6 days a week at work. plus a 2 hour round trip commute.. i always had my parents go to parent teacher confirences with my children.. and i was paying a small fourtune to the sitter and becoming more and more indebted to my mom for taking the kids after she got off workto save me a lil $ on a sitter..

my mom and my sitter were raising my children..
and tho i do miss my job.. and i REALLY miss having a life outside this house.. and friends that were not at the end of a keyboard.. and most of all i think i miss being able to pay my bills ontime..

would i take the do over if it were offered??
think of your life... especialy in this holiday season.. what do you have to be thankful for..

would YOU take the do over??

Don't look back. Keep pushing forward and things will fall into place sooner or later.

For most things no, for some minor things yes I would.. Mostly personality things where I should have handled things differently but didn't... But that's so minor you have to chalk it up to "it is what it is"....

Izzie, you are a good mom and I hope good things happen for you that you can spend more time with your kids.. I worked and felt crappy but wanted to give them things and live in places that were good for them.. Sometimes what we think is important isn't always but they understand and appreciate what I did... we always, always at dinner together, etc. So I think we make things special in ways we can even if we do have to work and have them with a sitter...

I got canned from a job several years ago. At first I was devastated and felt so small. But, for the first time since I was 13 years old, I did NOT have a job to go to. Even when I had maternity leave, it was for the minimum and as you know, IT'S NEEDED!!! So, there I was, no job, and looking. But it also gave me time with my kids that I NEVER GOT while married and working. I got to do stuff with them at their school and do some PTA things and take more time to cook breakfasts and dinners!!! It was oddly refreshing when that work world stopped once I got past feeling down about losing what was a very stupid politically nasty job. In a weird way, it was such a HUGE blessing, even though I had to cut corners money-wise.

I don't think so. I'm pretty content with who I am and where I am in life

and I wouldn't be who I am now without enduring the hardships and tribulations I've had.

so they really were worthwhile, even if I didnt think so at the time

Their are times that I want a do-over, or think that I do. But, I always remember that life is about a journey that you take. I mean, we make choices, and good or bad, we have to live with them. And yes, sometimes decisions are forced upon us, like losing a job that we did not intend to lose. But we have to decide what to do...where to go...from that point on.

I am thankful that even though times are tough for me too, I know I made the choice for it. I had to, because I had to make a change. I am thankful that I stood up for myself and made it. In the end, I know I will be better for it. It is just surviving right now that is a challenge, but I know I will make it through.

Izzie, maybe losing your job was a blessing for now. You get that time with your babies, but also maybe you will find another job closer to home, and better for. Yeah, not being able to pay bills, or go out, or do things that you normally would sucks. But I believe that things happen to us for some reason or another. What that reason is is beyond me.

You are a tough cookie, and I feel you will get through this. Be thankful for the time you will spend with your kids for now. Be thankful that you have people around you that love you. I know it is cliched, but it will get better.

Would I do anything to change my past? ONLY ONE THING...the accidental death of my 13 y/o son...

The rest of my past...NOPE! It's made me the person who I am today! It's molded me into a strong woman, a Mom of 5..ages now...
21 y/o daughter married, with a 11 mth old son, born 3 mths and 1 week premature weighing 2 lbs 8 oz, and we lived at that hospital for 3 months,
20 y/o daughter with a 2 y/o son, engaged to his daddy, she's followed her Mommy's footsteps and became a bartender,
17 y/o daughter senior in high school that has my personality, NOT sure if that's a good thing...
My Precious Angel would be 16 this past August, My Baby Boy, ripped from My Arms at the tender age of 13 y/o and into God's arms,
and then there's my baby boy, who is 14 and wittnessed the whole accident. His best friend, older brother gone.

I was a single Mom of 2 baby girls at 19 y/o. No their dads were NOT in the picture. Married at 23 and pregnant with my 3rd baby. I had 5 babies in 7 years and would NOT change it for the world!

I've had MANY trials and tribulations in my life, (Single Mom, married divorced, single Mom again of 5, but I wouldn't change it for the world)..and I still am, (my youngest grandson having 2 double hernia surgeries this next Tuesday in Nashville TN, and I can't be down there for him)
Christmas coming, wishing my son was here....

What am I most Thankful for...My God, Prayer, My children, My grandsons, their health and prosperity in the future, their devotion to their lives..they need to get on with their lives and not worry about Mom. The health that I have right now, as I'm typing, being able to converse virtually with hopefully new friends....Hoping this next back surgery "takes care of the problem, pain".

There are some things in life that just aren't worth changing too!

Why relive something that hurts so bad! And could anyone guarantee that the same things wouldn't happen again?

and EVERY SINGLE thing that i went thru in my past made me the person that i am today..
i may not be perfect.. but i do have my children brainwashed to think im the "best mama in the whole wide world"
teeheehee..

I think I would take the do over. Not that my life sucks or anything , I just would do some things differently. (stalk)

"YOU ARE THE MOM IN THE WORLD TO THEM!"

You are their Angel here on earth! YOU are the one who raised them even "if" you were working 12 hr days...You tucked them in at night, read them their bedtime stories....

YOU are their Mom...and a VERY GOOD ONE AT TAHT!!

No regrets..No regrets!!

(((((((cb))))))) i miss you my favorite stalker!!!!!!~~~

I miss you too sweetie

sadly.. i wasnt home to do that before..
i am now.. and lemme tell you.. i have totaly brushed up on my dr seuss..
lol

LOL Since I have my grandson alot now, while my daughter works, I, too have brushed up on my Dr. Suess....LOL

Your prayers were answered, you were given an opportunity to develop patience. You learned to wait gracefully.

For the first ten years we had children, their mom worked nights/evenings and I worked days. This helped keep our day care bill to a minimum.It also meant I took care of my daughters by myself from whenever I picked them up in the afternoon until their mom came home around midnight. She also worked a lot of wk-ends too, so anything I wanted to do had to be done by 10:30 am or take them with me. The result is I am very close to my daughters now 15 and 17.

No regrets here, its a true blessing

Great job, Michiganman!! You're a GREAT Man for taking care of your children, there's some out there that don't.


Some of us never got the gift of having that "special someone" in our lives to help. And If we did, sometimes "it" never lasted long, in my experiences anyways.

michiganman... you are a good guy.. and im sure your kids apprecieate the time... cuz my kids paternal unit just pretends they dont exist.. this kinda works for me.. lol.. thus im the only one to blaim for them being who they are. lol good and bad..

No, though my life spans for only 9 years I've gone to great extent to insure that in the 9 years I went through anything and everything that came my way...I am who I am because of that, to change it now is to erase 9 years of existence...with a great portion of existence already erased I wouldn't want more of it gone.