A Teacher's Wife

Eric is more than halfway through his first semester of teaching. He wishes he had realized 10 years ago that this is what he wanted to do. Considering the relatively large pay cut he took to change careers, we are both really happy that he likes his work so much.

It's awesome to have more time together as a family. Eric is required to stay at school until 4, and usually he stays later than that, but he's still generally home by about 5. Contrast this with the old job in which he arrived home closer to 6, and usually later if he carpooled. (His commute went from 23 miles each way to less than 7 miles each way.) We can eat dinner earlier, which overall, has resulted in happier children. After dinner we still have plenty of time to play, go on walks or otherwise be together.

I am still working 20 hours per week. As I've said before, it's a little more than I'd like, but with Eric's new job it's become much more manageable. Eric has class on Tuesday nights (so he can become a certified teacher), so we don't usually see him until almost 9 on those nights. It makes for a long day for me since I also work on Tuesdays, but it's just one night a week. Since Eric is done with work so much earlier, he is now eligible to pick up the boys from the sitter's house. When he was not getting home until close to 6 that wasn't an option because our sitters don't generally want our boys that late. So on Wednesdays Eric picks up the boys while I work until 8 or so. Again, it makes for a long day. But usually it means that on my at-home days I can limit my working time to when my boys are napping. It's been great to have that change.

We are loving that Eric has so many school holidays and are eagerly planning future road trips and vacations. It's a little ironic that we now have more time to travel, because we most certainly have less money to do so. Still, we've always been frugal, and we are by no means destitute.

All in all we are both really happy with the career change. He's happy as a teacher, and I'm happy as a teacher's wife.