Monday, August 20, 2007

On work and love

Forgive me. The past four days have been busy ones as I have been juggling family, the practice of medicine and my own needs for rest. I have let this blog flounder.

The school year is fast approaching. My eldest son will be a senior in high school and my younger son a sophomore. They are both beautiful young men. Each stands over six feet tall and both are quick to grin not just with their lips but with their eyes.

These days I often look at them and wonder, "When did you move in to my house?" Almost instantly as if reading my mind, one or the other, sometimes both of them together, will crack a joke and they will giggle reminding me that they are just super-sized little boys. The same ones that use to climb into my lap and snuggle.

Time has flown by. While I have been able to call myself a physician for twenty-five years, I have been a mother for less than eighteen. I feel the first title has deprived us of much time with me as the other.

Medicine is a demanding vocation often robbing from other areas of life. For that reason alone I hate what I do. I have wondered if it would not be better for me to be single and without children. Yet, without children I would not appreciate the most important aspects of life. Work is important but love is much more so. Love is the ultimate reason for work. My hope is that somehow my sons see this and that they understand.
On work and loveSocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Love is the ultimate reason for work. My hope is that somehow my sons see this and that they understand."

You just helped out one of your sons tremendously by giving him a glimpse of that lesson.

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman said...

I know what you mean about feeling torn between work and family and resenting medicine for the time it takes away from your time with your children. Yes, we work so we can support our family, so we can set an example, but its such a shame that medicine exacts such a high toll. I have two stepchildren who we only have part time, but the time demands of that role alone make me frightened to take on the added responsibility of another child while practicing medicine full time. There is only so much of me!

Anonymous said...

Beautifully said, Local MD. And you don't give yourself enough credit. Many of us who know you see the work AND the love. I like anonymous' quote above. You do practice what you preach.