Crossing Park Avenue

Many people have jobs that are so intense that they find it necessary to try to separate or walk away from the work when they leave. Only by doing so, can they rest and enjoy the other parts of their lives. Individually they find what works for them. I was blessed with a mother who was a true role model for me when it came to this. Mamma was a social worker for the state for the last 20 years of her work life. During the final seven she was assigned to child welfare. These were the years that seemed to have aged her the most. She was good because she cared. Because she cared, she also hurt.

My brother and I were both married by then and had families of our own. Someone asked her one day why she was so happy. She had not stopped to think about it but suddenly realized it was because both of us would be under her roof that particular night. Now 50 years later, I know that feeling well. As my Grandma used to say, "Happiness truly is having all the family under the same roof!"

Another time she was asked how she could go home at night and be of any good to her own family with all the tough things she dealt with all day. Mamma said that she had created a boundary for her job. Each day when she headed home she consciously left her job on one side of Park Avenue, an arterial in the south end of Tacoma, Washington. As she crossed the street, she would think, "I will leave this here and go home for my own family. When I come back across this street tomorrow morning, I will pick up my work load."

This also worked the other way. She did not take family issues to work with her to interfere with what she had to do there. Now I am pretty sure that did not work all the time. In fact I remember her friends telling me that when I was having a long drawn out labor before Jay was born, she was actually having labor pains herself! Is there any wonder I loved her so much? But when it did work, it helped her maintain effectiveness in both home and work arenas.

Can this work for you? Think about it anyway!