Underemployed

I rarely missed a birthday or a school event. I took days off to be there for the big stuff, and went in late sometimes so I wouldn't miss the little stuff. I was working many hours, but I worked hard to be not working when it counted.

Underemployment doesn't schedule itself around birthdays and events, so these days, I may be there for the big stuff, but I am also there for the really little stuff--not so much the occasions, but the minutes and days in between. The hours of "what should we do today?" summer vacation, the mornings of "what's for breakfast?" and the late afternoons of too little coffee to keep up. The conversations not just about the earth-shattering, but about the mundane as well. Underemployment may not put you in the middle of every important event, but it most certainly puts you in the middle of the daily events of life, the events you missed, or left to the babysitter, while you worked toward the occasions. Underemployment allows--forces--you to get through those mornings and afternoons, which are not always easy. But it also puts you at the scene of the everyday triumphs and tribulations. I may not have been home for every first step or new word all those years ago, but I am present for today's new discoveries. And when I'm not busy bemoaning underemployment or working to change it, I can actually appreciate the older "first steps" that I am getting to see.

I don't wish underemployment on anyone. I may have missed things in my days of working continuously, but the security and stability of that situation--and my commitment to making it work--was something I really miss. But for now, I am trying to see the bit of good in underemployment--some quality moments spent, a money lesson taught, my attention given when it was needed. Underemployment doesn't schedule itself around your occasions or your needs, but it can create an opening for you to be there. And for what I hope will be just a few moments in time, I am holding on to that opening, and to the chances it is giving me.