Shasta: The Return to Journalism
Life can change so quickly.
Little more than a month ago, I was a stay-at-home mom, and seemed destined to stay that way at least until the kids went to full-time school. Tired, drained and pulled in a million directions, I was ready to quit my tiny freelance reporting gig — because: who am I kidding? There's no way I'm getting my career in print news back.
A few nights ago, I sat across from the former editor of Portland Monthly magazine at a $125-per-head charity dinner and introduced myself as the new Clackamas County reporter for the Portland Tribune.
And it was true.
Out of nowhere, my life has been turned upside-down. If there is any such thing as a Mommy War, I have defected to the other side.
And I love it.
Don't get me wrong — moms who enjoy hanging out with their kids all day are heroes and deserve waaaaaaaay more accolades than they get.
It's just really not for me.
This morning I woke up, put on heels and walked out the door before one of my kids was even awake. I had adult conversations and wrote big picture stories on the events of the day. I then finished the day with a beer… or two… at a bar with friends.
Is this my life???
Don't get me wrong: it's not all awesome. Pretty soon, I hope, things will even out. But right now I'm vacillating between being super stressed out about the many aspects of my life that are in flux at the moment and being so overjoyed to have found my way back.
What I tell people is that I took a "break" from my career to raise my kids and now I'm back — as if it was a conscious choice. The reality is that I was flat broke and could not afford to return to a job that paid as much as child care cost. Beyond that, I was pretty well convinced that a person could not take four years "off" from a career as competitive as journalism and ever come back. Thanks to my friends at Pamplin Media Group, this was not the case.
But here I am.
To be sure, I am taking a break from blogging for an indefinite amount of time. I still think of new posts, though. I take pictures and videos of Malachi's progress and hope that one day I will be able to update you all.
In the meantime, you are welcome to follow my new adventures in journalism through Twitter or on my Facebook page. (Be sure to hover over "liked" to select "Get notifications," as that is the only way to tell Facebook that, no really, I actually want to see this.)
Here we go!
This morning I woke up, put on heels and walked out the door before one of my kids was even awake. I had adult conversations and wrote big picture stories on the events of the day. I then finished the day with a beer… or two… at a bar with friends.
Is this my life???
Don't get me wrong: it's not all awesome. Pretty soon, I hope, things will even out. But right now I'm vacillating between being super stressed out about the many aspects of my life that are in flux at the moment and being so overjoyed to have found my way back.
What I tell people is that I took a "break" from my career to raise my kids and now I'm back — as if it was a conscious choice. The reality is that I was flat broke and could not afford to return to a job that paid as much as child care cost. Beyond that, I was pretty well convinced that a person could not take four years "off" from a career as competitive as journalism and ever come back. Thanks to my friends at Pamplin Media Group, this was not the case.
But here I am.
To be sure, I am taking a break from blogging for an indefinite amount of time. I still think of new posts, though. I take pictures and videos of Malachi's progress and hope that one day I will be able to update you all.
In the meantime, you are welcome to follow my new adventures in journalism through Twitter or on my Facebook page. (Be sure to hover over "liked" to select "Get notifications," as that is the only way to tell Facebook that, no really, I actually want to see this.)
Here we go!
Hi Shasta! I'm Heather and I was just wondering if you would be willing to answer a quick question about your blog! If you could email me at Lifesabanquet1(at)gmail(dot)com that would be great!
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