Work From Home Couple

I spent two days this week in beautiful Cleveland, interviewing commercial real estate brokers for Midwest Real Estate News, the trade magazine I edit. It was a whirlwind trip, and air travel isn’t my favorite thing. (I hate the fact that I have to take my shoes off at security. I don’t know why this bugs me so much — I always wear clean socks — but it really rubs me the wrong way.) But I was spoiled a bit. I got to sleep in this morning.

For me, sleeping in means 6:30 a.m. Usually, I’m awakened at 5 a.m. or so by the dulcet tones of our 1-year-old son. And then, soon as I get our son downstairs, our dog decides it’s immediately time for him to go out and take care of business. It’s a rude awakening at 5 a.m.

But this morning — I actually got to hear a real alarm clock. You’d be amazed at how pleasant that irritating buzz, or the explosive guffaw of a morning D.J., can be when it comes at the relatively late hour of 6:30 a.m.

Of course, while I was sleeping in, my wife had to get our 1-year-old son up and take out the dog. She then had to get our 9-year-old son off to school, and take care of our son all day long, by herself.

Now, I know most of the stay-at-home parents that read this will have little sympathy for either of us. After all, there are many, many parents who spend every day chasing after their young children. It’s hard to imagine for anyone who doesn’t have young kids just how incredibly hard that can be.

My wife’s evening didn’t get any better when our dog started barking, for no apparent reason, at 2 a.m. This, of course, woke up our young son, who wasn’t the least bit happy with having his rest disturbed. According to my wife, it’s a good thing our dog doesn’t understand English, because he would have been incredibly insulted. (I think it’s probably a good thing our son can’t talk yet, either, because I’d hate for him to spout back whatever it was that my wife said at 2 in the morning.)

My wife and I are a bit spoiled, though. We’re used to watching our young son in shifts. Now, we love our little guy dearly, but there are times when you need that break from childcare. We’re fortunate in that we can take it because we both work from home.

But when one of us is gone — and my wife will have her revenge later this year when she takes a scheduled trip of her own — it tends to make the one left behind truly appreciate how helpful it is to have two adults at home all the time.

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