Working Nights

When you are a parent, in some ways, you're working all the time. Whether it's prepping breakfasts and stuffing backpacks in the morning, playing games and overseeing homework in the afternoon, or reading bedtime stories and hugging away bad dreams at night, or all the other tasks in between, you are on call, in some way, twenty-four hours a day. Add a job to some of those hours, and you can find yourself stretched thin.
 
Somehow, for years, I have handled the balance. There have been late studio days and early morning rehearsals. Once in a while, there has been travel. Yet, all the while, there have still been breakfasts and bedtime stories, with some play in between.
 
This week, I began working nights--not whole nights, but enough of the night to make bedtime stories impossible. Enough of the night to make early morning routines difficult and afternoon games either tough because I'm tired, or non-existent, because I'm off to work. The balance that I have handled for years has shifted. The work of parenthood as I have known it is being called upon to change.
 
As I have made my way through these post-soap years, there has been a kind of constant redefinition. Where will I go next, and how will I manage it? Who will I be, and how will I reconcile the new me with the old?
 
I can't say whether working nights will be a new normal, or simply a step on a path that just keeps twisting. Kind of like parenthood, following a new path forces us to accept some unknowns, and to adjust to the unexpected. For now, I'm just trying to find ways to replace bedtime stories and early mornings with all the attention and quality time I can possibly give. And hopefully, that will, for now, get us all through the nights.