Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Home Bases

So, back to working from home today.  Amazing how just seven days working across town made home a real novelty.  My home editing system is neither as powerful nor as uncluttered as the one where I was working for the seven days, but, by golly, I could work at it in my bare feet and as part of a schedule that included picking up my kids and picking up new ice cream for our freezer.

For the many years when I was working long hours almost every day, one of the things I always felt I was missing was the vibe of my home neighborhood during the day.  There is just something enjoyable about seeing things evolve in your home zone--whether it's a new grocery store being constructed or building neighbors you'd never otherwise see, or the handymen going about their daily fixing jobs, or people moving in and out.  It's all part of your home base, part of what defines the home you've been coming home to every night, and now you get to see it.  My husband, who works right near home (okay, across the street), probably doesn't make these distinctions.  What he doesn't see much on a daily basis is the world beyond our neighborhood--multiple buses and trains, shopping areas, crowds.

When I had my first child, I remember thinking how great it would be if I had one of those jobs that would let me work from home, baby by my side.  I quickly saw it wouldn't have worked for me then--the necessary separations between mom-hood and work would have been more than I could have handled with a small baby.  Now, with my kids in school, home can be pretty work-ish, at least for seven hours or so, and nobody cares if I'm not wearing shoes.  Something to think about--at least until I go back to going across town for the gig.

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