After Thoughts

One thought that keeps coming into my mind about the ending of this pregnancy is, "What am I going to do afterwards?” There are the obvious activities of enjoying my new family and recovering, but I am thinking more long term. It seems as though I have been preparing a mental list of what I would like to do or accomplish once the pregnancy is over. Of course the hardest part is going to be able to do all of this while still raising a 3 year old and a (breast-feeding) newborn.

One thing I sort of regret about starting this pregnancy is not being in the same shape I was prior to getting pregnant with Jordan. With Jordan, I was very active with sports like volleyball and running. I think that helped a lot with the day-to-day aches & pains pregnancy. But before Andrew, I never made time for volleyball and running (which I believe was due to my stressful and relentless hours at my previous job). I just never made time for myself. So first on my list after the pregnancy: get back in shape! I have also informed Kevin that I plan to join a volleyball rec team at some point in the future. (And I a not talking about some family reunion pick-up game here…..come on folks, get serious.)

The next item on my list is to obtain my Master’s. I have decided that getting one in Accounting and Information Systems with a focus on Financial Services is right up my alley. This is definitely a goal that will need to be spread out over the long-term due to family (time), working full-time, and of course money. One might ask, “You already have a BS in Mathematics at Virginia Tech, why do you need a Master’s?” Well since my graduation (Cum Laude, mind you) back in 1999 I have been in almost every type of job imaginable. It wasn’t until I started working for Danaher Motion in Radford that I realized a passion for accounting, finance and corporate reporting. One of the benefits of working with that company was their tuition reimbursement program, which allowed me to take classes at New River Community College (through the distance learning program) and then Radford University (right down the street from work). After breezing through 4 courses in Accounting, this started the desire to learn more. With Radford not offering a Master’s in Accounting and taking a job in Blacksburg, it seems only natural to return to the excellent programs offered at VT. I hold this goal near and dear to my heart, even if it takes me 10 years to accomplish it. This leads directly into a career goal of mine which is to become more responsible for key financial decisions. Whether it is with my current job at Webmail.us, Inc. or with another company. I want to be able to make financial decisions that no one else either cares to make or may be afraid to make. Maybe it’s a power thing, but I want total control of the finances. I want to be able to say, “this is your budget, if you blow it, it’s coming out of your salary.” By learning the skills needed through school and my current real-world experiences I am hoping to achieve this goal.

This past February Kevin and I took our first trip to Snowshoe in West Virginia. I had just found out I was like 2 or 3 weeks pregnant. Despite being pregnant I had an awesome time up there. The first night my friends Tracy and Brian (who stayed only one night) joined us and then later an old friend from VT stayed with us. It was great being able to spend time with friends in a different atmosphere. The skiing was great (for everyone except me and Brian...I sucked big-time on that trip….but I am blaming that on the pregnancy…hehe!), the views were breath-taking, and the friendship bonding was awesome. I remember Saturday night, after Tracy & Brian headed home, that me, Kev & Jason went out to dinner at a pizza joint in the village and had a blast just talking about the old days. At some point during our conversations, Jason said something about how awesome the relationship is between me and Kev. He was like, “you guys have the perfect relationship”…..or something to that accord. And I remember looking at Kevin and agreeing with Jason’s comments 100%. It’s hard to believe that Kevin and I have been together for almost 10 years now, and have known each other longer because we went to the same high school. But through the years I believe our relationship is one of the strongest, truest and most understanding in the world. I cherish every single day with him. Side note here: I don’t want anyone reading this to think that we never had our tough times, because we did. But through communication we not only overcame those tough times, we came out stronger. So what does all this have to do with after the pregnancy??? I want to go back to Snowshoe with Kevin and experience the same type of weekend I had this past February. Who knows, maybe we’ll invite more of our friends to share the experience with us.

Kevin and I also have plane tickets that need to be used from where we took a later flight from the Sugar Bowl last year. I can’t wait to use those! We still haven’t made a decision as to where we want to go. We were thinking Las Vegas, but maybe somewhere new, where we haven’t been before. That’s going to be a blast and I am anxious to see where we end up.

Now Mom, I know you are reading this and thinking that I need to make time for God and spiritual needs. Just relax………..

So now about two pages later, one has to think, how the heck is she going to do all this stuff? Well I don’t know quite sure myself. I do know that I will always put family first, and if this causes me to take a side-road on one of my goal paths, then so be it. I just think it’s important that these types of paths are known or established so that some type of direction in life can occur.