I Resigned

I quit my library job today. I made up my mind last week, and spent the last few days thinking about telling my boss.  She and I were coworkers for three years before she became my boss last fall, and we’ve been good friends for all of that time.  Until last month, she and I were the only people in our department who didn’t have children – we both considered our pets to be our children.  So it was tough to walk in there and tell her that I wasn’t going to come back.  She was great though – she always is – and it reinforced for me that I’m making the right decision because she was so supportive of me.  I had been working 32 hours a week at the library for the last year and a half.  I had also been working about 20 hours a week at our insurance agency, which I’ve continued to do since our baby was born.  I told my boss that while I have to resign my current job, I’d love to stay on as a sub, and I’d also love to take one of the 12 hour positions that will be open in the fall.  We have two 12 hour shelvers who will both be leaving in the fall, and either of their schedules would be perfect.  12 hours a week plus maybe one four hour shift as a sub would be perfect. The nice thing about being a sub is that I can pick and choose what shifts I want, and the shelver hours are much more flexible than the schedule I had been working until the baby was born.  My boss said that would be great, and she’s going to make it work so that I have 12 hours per week.  It will probably be more than just shelving, since I have so much experience at the library.  I really don’t care what I’m doing there – I love being there, I love the people I work with, and I’m just thrilled that they will work with me on this.

By dropping below 20 hours per week I will no longer have benefits, which means I can’t contribute to my 457 plan anymore (they don’t do matching; all the money I’ve been putting in has been my own contributions, so it’s not that much of a loss – I’ll be contributing to my Roth IRA instead).  I also won’t get the $250/month benefit that they give us to help cover the cost of health insurance, but my husband and I have been paying for our own health insurance for years, so that will be ok too (although our premium has gone up to $425/month now that there are three of us on the policy…)  I also won’t get paid vacation time anymore, but my schedule will be so flexible that it won’t really matter.  I have 225 hours of vacation saved up, which they will pay me for now that I’ve quit (at $13/hour that will be a nice little bonus check).  I’ll still get my free gym membership, and I’ll still get to work at the library, which is a benefit in and of itself.

I’m feeling very good about my decision and about my life in general.  I’ve always thrived on being busy and multi-tasking.  for the first time in my life I’m feeling very content to be a little less busy.  I love just hanging out with our little boy, watching him grow, feeding him, changing his diaper, and just snuggling him.  My husband and I have worked very hard for the last several years to get to this point.  I’ll be 30 this summer – I have lots of years ahead of me to focus on work.  But my baby will never be a baby again.  I’m reminded of a poem that was on the wall in a house where I used to babysit when I was in highschool – “settle down cobwebs, dust go to sleep… I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.”