Officially unemployed (or am I?)

I need to change two things on my About page. One--I no longer consider getting pregnant a hobby of mine. See? Two--as of September, I am officially jobless. Now I'm a 100% real-deal stay-at-home mama. I've worked for money since the age of 15, so it's a strange feeling, not having a paying job. Now I work an average of 16 hours a day, seven days a week for no money. How did THAT happen? It's taking some getting used to.

Now I'm thinking back on the jobs I've held over the years. Let's see, I've been a:

--Ice-cream, hot-dog, and French-fry slinger at Lagoon
--Inbound telemarketer (you called me, I didn't call you!)
--Video-store cashier (once caught a guy stuffing a copy of Animal House into his pants)
--Helper at a bakery at Utah State (one of my favorite jobs--I can crack two-dozen eggs in record time)
--Salesperson at a now-defunct clothing store called Brooks, which was located at the now defunct ZCMI Center in downtown Salt Lake City
--Custodian at a struggling live theatre company, downtown SLC (complete with bouncing paychecks!)
--Employee at the University of Utah Bookstore (even won employee of the month once)
--Administrative assistant at a life-insurance company
--Copy editor at a doomed-from-the-start publishing company

Which brings me to the job I loved, the job I recently said goodbye to. I was (still want to say "I am!") the sole copywriter at Martingale & Company for 10 years. When I told people I worked as a copywriter I was often asked for advice about copyright law. Don't know much about that, really. I just wrote. Copy. For around 500+ books, as I figure. It was wonderfully fun. I was privileged--actually, just darn lucky--to be a part of that creative company for so long.

I've spent a couple months going through some tough adjustments since I gave up my job. I miss hearing from the people at M&C, and I miss the fast pace of the work. I've had to purposefully reprogram my head. I'm not required to produce anything at lightning speed anymore, aside from the occasional cup of apple juice. Deadlines don't wake me up at night. I no longer get phone calls from my never-gonna-have-another-one-as-fantastic-as-her boss that start with a sentence like, "I need this--can you have it done yesterday?" How do I miss that, you ask? I don't know. I just do.

For the past two months, with the help of my two sons (one here and one on the way), I've been slowly slowing down. Slowly. It's starting to feel . . . comfy. Like my favorite pj's. Like my tattered Bull's Eye quilt--the one that has a small but crunchy-loud piece of tape sewn in between the layers. (Oops.)

A pattern from a wonderful book called Quilts from Aunt Amy.

Here's what it is. It's TIME. I have it. Time for reading another story, and then another, with Jack. Time for a snuggle on the couch with my husband (who IS producing at lightning speed at work right now). Time to bake goodies from scratch. Time to wash, dry, AND put away in a 24-hour period. Time to daydream about our little one on the way.

So, I guess I traded in an extraordinary job for an extraordinary job. Again, just darn lucky. But it's a truly heartwarming feeling, a grateful feeling, knowing I'll never have to give this new job up.