The Benefits of my Job Flexibility

There are many reasons why I love working from home. As a business owner of the home based Bilingual Fun Company, I enjoy flexible work hours, precious time spent with my children, the availability to volunteer in school, and a schedule built around my family’s activities, and most recently the ability to leave my home for a week because of a family emergency.

My family unfortunately had quite a scare a few weeks ago when my energetic, healthy, upbeat, 65 year old mom got gravely ill. My family and I live 4 ½ hours away from my parents, and while it is not as far as we used to live (1300 miles), it is not just a hop, skip, and a jump away. My mom came down with flu like symptoms, feeling achy and tired. After 3 days of speaking to her on the phone and realizing she wasn’t feeling better, I begged my dad to take her to a doctor. As many of you can relate to, my parents are stubborn and set in their ways. “It is just the flu”, my mom kept telling me. But by day 4 she was having a severe pain in her side and my dad immediately took her to the emergency room. She was admitted with severe pneumonia and her breathing was rapidly becoming worse and worse.

My dad informed all of us what was happening and promised to keep us up to date of the latest information. After about 12 hours in the hospital, it was quickly determined that my poor mom had such a severe and dangerous case of pneumonia, that her life was being threatened. The physicians told my dad that we should gather family around her for support and because there was a possibility this could be a grave situation.

No one ever wants to get news like this and in fact, we all dread it. I spent about 30 minutes organizing my personal items and work materials, and off I went! My mom ended up having emergency lung surgery, had a mild heart attack during the procedure, and was in ICU for 4 days. She continued recovering in the hospital for 5 more days, and I was able to be there and assist almost the entire time. Due to the nature of my home based business, I was able to take my work with me and continue to run my business from the wireless connected hospital room and waiting rooms. Organizing my two young children’s schedules and relying on the assistance of my supportive husband was also a key factor in my ability to get up and leave my life for a week.

Clearly, the stress of having a seriously ill parent and the unknown of the outcome was intense, but I am so thankful that I did not have the stress of work being left undone and in chaos while I was gone. I am continually thankful for the decision I made to leave my full time job and become a business owner. This is one more reason. I surely do not hope to have many more family emergencies in the near future, but the reality of life is that I know it may happen again. I am grateful that I have incredible job flexibility. While there are often things I really miss about being in the corporate world or being connected to a group of people, being a mom entrepreneur is really working for me right now!