That's 'MISTER Mr. Mom' to you, buddy!

Since I've been working from home (or attempting to work from home...sometimes I think of my self as 'self-unemployed'), I've heard the term "Mr. Mom" thrown in my direction more than once. John Hughes wrote the script and Michael Keaton and Teri Garr are the stars in the 80's comedy, and it has some humorous scenes (in fact, it's a wonder that no one has thought to remake it - and why aren't comedies remade as much as, say, dramas or action flicks? And what's the deal with all the parenthetical rhetorical remarks?), but ultimately resolves [SPOILER ALERT!] with Keaton regaining his job and Garr going back home to take care of the kids. True, my wife is now the main wage-earner, and true, I am in charge of the kids during the day (and nights sometimes, if Christa's work is especially harrowing that day), but I initially took offense to the term, until I decided to break down and finally see the movie.

Very traditional values for a Hollywood hit, and, I must say, one that I would prefer for our family (Christa COULD go back to part-time...or work from home...or they could just pay her the money she deserves for running the entire office single-handed), as the stress is compounding at my wife's job!

The problem with being a writer (okay, 'ostensibly being a writer', but that doesn't roll off the tongue as well) is that you kinda need to have something written to get paid, and unfortunately I didn't see the layoff coming soon enough to have something to roll with right out of the gate. And running a week-long Vacation Bible School (I played the part of Paul the Apostle - chained to a desk with writing his only past-time...hmmm, where did I put that chain?) while making sure three kids have a great summer vacation means very little writing time for me in the last few months.

Now it's getting down to crunch time (and hopefully I'm not the one who will be getting crunched!) so, since the kids are close to going back to school, I'll be writing much more often. I should have something to shop around soon, and other piecemeal sidelines should become more prominent in providing a few extra bucks.

So, while I'm nowhere near the basketcase Keaton became during his descent into madness, I can understand the sentiment offered by the well-meaning few who use the Mr. Mom moniker, perhaps not embracing it fully, and use it as an impetus to get back to a sensible family dynamic. I just won't be using it as my 'mom de plume'.

Changes

Well. It's been a while since I posted, and many things have been happening since then.

The big news is that Benjamin Tucker MacDonald was born, happy and healthy, on November 24th, 2008, just in time for Thanksgiving! He is a very pleasant baby – the one before him was born with bi-lateral clubfoot, so she spent the first six weeks of her life in full-length leg casts, which made her a little cranky (but understandably so) that first year or two. She has since made a full recovery, started walking earlier than her older brother did, and now runs around like the crazy kindergartener she is with no problem. But Ben was born with no problems.

The second big news is that I was laid off after almost 20 years. The company laid off 7% of their personnel, which is about 37 people. The stuff that I was responsible for were not big sellers, so eliminating me was not a big stretch of the imagination. It’s not particularly bad for me (more on that below), but it was a bit sudden (“A BIT”?????????) so now I’m going to take some time to network, run the numbers, and see what this next phase of my life is going to look like.

The good news is that my wife just got a new position at her job, meaning more per hour, so my being home frees her schedule up to take those new hours, since I'm home to drive Ben to my in-laws during the day (or take care of him here, which gets a little noisy and time consuming, so he's over at the in-laws more often than not), pick him up and be here when the other kids come home from school. Her new hours give us over an hour in the morning to actually be together with just Ben, which is very nice and relaxing. We hadn't had morning breakfast together on a weekday in a long time. I get more time with her, more time with the older kids, and more time with Ben. Win/Win/Win in my book. And I get to write for the rest of the day. Win^4!

Also, it frees up a bunch of time during the day for me to take paying writing and editing projects. With wifey's new pay increase, all I really need to cover is our insurance costs. I could work freelance as long as some money is coming in. On top of that, the severance package was very generous, so I don't need to scramble to find a new job right away. This is an opportunity that I wouldn't have had if I were still working, so, even though I miss the people, I can now get more traction on what I'd really like to do, which is write and edit.

The bad part was that it was so sudden, although I imagine that I would have tried to line up another 9-5 job if I had any warning, so maybe that wasn't so bad. I already have a few different ponds that I'm fishing in, and one international ministry already asked for my resume, so things seem like they're moving right along. God certainly knows what He’s doing.

We have also been 'blessed' with the wonderful cold/disease/whatever that has been lingering around the Boston area, so I haven't had much time to update this weblog, so I apologize for that, but I should be back pretty regularly from now on.