Thursday, August 13, 2009

I Quit!

Yes, you read it right...I Quit! I am now officially a full-time SAHM (that is Stay At Home Mom for those of you that are not familiar). I gave my two week notice and resignation to the Football office and my last "official" day was Friday, August 7th (although I have never returned to work since Jacob was born).

Of course, this resignation shouldn't have come as a surprise to my boss or anyone that I worked with because I was never quiet about my desire to be a SAHM, even before I became pregnant. Once Jacob was born, I was happy to give my resignation as soon as my maternity leave (the paid part) was over. I certainly didn't want to do it too soon so I didn't lose any of my pay or benefits, but I wanted to help the office out by giving them plenty of notice. This way they could find a replacement for me before the season starts in early September.

The problem with this plan was that my boss asked me if I could come back for one week once my 12 weeks of FMLA were over (the first week in September) so that I could help them tie up some loose ends before the season started. I reluctantly said yes (I didn't really want to leave my baby boy with anyone for an entire week, but I wanted to help them out). My sister, Katie, agreed to watch Jacob even though she was going to be 36 weeks pregnant that week and already has a 2 1/2 year old running around (aren't sisters great?!...Thanks Katie!!).

Well, right before we were headed to NY, my team leader called and asked if I could have dinner with her. At dinner, she said that they had come up with a plan that didn't involve me having to work that week, unless I wanted to. I kindly told her that although I did love my job, it would be so much better for everyone if I didn't have to come in and I would just give my two weeks notice from that date, making my last day August 7th. I was so relieved to not have to worry about going in for that week and was happy that I could relieve Katie of babysitting duty.

Since we were headed out of town right after I met with her, I actually ended up mailing my resignation letter from my grandparents' house in NY. My boss & team leader were both aware that it was "in the mail" as I had sent them an unofficial e-mail resignation at their request so they could get the process of finding a replacement started. I didn't hear anything back from the office while we were on vacation, so I assumed that everything we had talked about and planned was fine. When we got back from vacation, on Thursday (the day before I was going in to clean out my office & do an exit interview with HR), I received this in the mail from the Football office:

In case you can't read it, it is a copy of my resignation letter sent back to me with the words "REQUEST DENIED" written on it. The envelope that I sent the letter in was also included with the words "RETURN TO SENDER" written on it.

I instantly recognized the handwriting as that of my boss, Gerry. He is a great guy and certainly a jokester (although I think he was serious this time!). It is very nice to know that they are not happy about me leaving and would love for me to stay. When I went in to clean out my office, Gerry and his assistant were both trying to give me all the reasons why I wouldn't want to leave. I simply held up Jacob and said that he was the reason why I had to leave!

I am not saying that I am not sad about not working there anymore because I already miss the people and the job every day! But I know that I would be more sad every day when I had to leave Jacob with someone else. He is already growing so fast and changing so much. I wouldn't want to miss any of that! As scary as it is to not have a second income anymore and to not have the socialization that I crave, I now believe that I have the best job in the world!

2 comments:

Karen said...

Congrats! The rewards and perks from this new "job" mostly go unnoticed and are not highly praised, but certainly they are life changing and Jacob will thank you one day! :) Be proud of the changes and impact you will make in his life! Enjoy! It is soooo fun!!!

Love you!

Tammy said...

Congrats on being a SAHM. That is awesome that you can do that.

Off the subject, how were you able to put two pictures in your heading? I didn't see a template for that. I am not that bright I guess.