Me and Mama Brady

It’s been a week now since I’ve made one of the bigger decisions I’ve made to date… a choice that will affect every member of our little family. It was a pretty tough choice to make, one that I’m still secretly nervous may not end up being entirely the right choice for me personally, but I’m completely certain is the best option for my family, so ultimately it was a decision I’m happy to make. Starting November 18th I will officially be a stay at home mom.

I know this is a dream for many women to be in a place where they can afford to live on one income – we will certainly be cutting back, but thankfully are able to live solely on Justin’s salary – but personally, being a working mom has always been a pretty great dynamic for me. I worked extremely hard to make sure I could achieve my goal to work in sports and entertainment… an opportunity I knew would be hard to come by. I chased down a competitive internship at USA Basketball and applied relentlessly until my resume was finally picked up by the Cleveland Cavaliers. I landed my dream job when I was just 23 years-old and have been incredibly blessed by the opportunities I’ve had here. That’s what makes this hardest, I’ve really enjoyed what I do – and challenged myself to grow a entry level position of a coordinator to a manager.

All that said, I’m not lost under rose-colored glasses. The pay in sports is hardly anything to write home about (believe me, the professional athletes make the dollar bills, not the team behind the team – not that the Cavs are unfair, it’s like this across the board until you’re really high up and I’m not at a place where I want to dedicate myself to climbing the corporate ladder). So when you’re paying to put two kids in day care fulltime, it’s practically a wash. The hours are anything but traditional or consistent during the season, and I had it better than most.

A couple weeks ago I worked 50 hours by the end of the day on Thursday and I still had all of Friday and a quick trip back to work for a couple hours over the weekend. It was clear that it was too much for me at this point. Justin’s off work for over an hour before I get home every day as it is, so tag on the nights and early mornings I’d have to work and I can literally go days without seeing my babies for more than a kiss goodnight. These years are too short to continue down this road.

I’m not sure this is my future as a stay-at-home. I hope in the next couple years I’ll go back to school for a masters in counseling so I’ll have the same hours as my kids, and I can use some of the gifts God’s given me in an area I’ve felt called to since high school. I’m more than nervous that I’m never going to find a good network of other moms in Cleveland… I have this fear that all that’s out there are teacher-sweater moms (the ones that wear sweater vests with appliqués and poms way prematurely) and that finding new relatable mommy friends will be harder to find than a husband, but I’m up for the challenge. Not succeeding at this is simply not an option.