????隨著孩子們?nèi)諠u長大，我越來越確信，當初我堅持工作下去的選擇是正確的。他們現(xiàn)在每天都要在學校里待一整個白天，我也非常慶幸多年的兼職工作使我現(xiàn)在有能力勝任一份有挑戰(zhàn)的、有意思的工作。我有時也會覺得筋疲力盡，覺得脆弱無助，覺得別人對我的要求太高了；有時也覺得我的生活本來可以更簡單一些。但是對于我的大多數(shù)女性朋友來說，只要她們做了母親，她們無疑都經(jīng)常有和我一樣的感覺，不管她們對職業(yè)生涯做出了怎樣的選擇。

????作為一個母親，這樣的時刻不可避免。人生很長，而我們的孩子整天需要人照顧的日子其實很短，這就是矛盾所在。這段歲月無論對我們的孩子、對于我們的事業(yè)、還是對于我們的人生，都不可能再來一遍。我不認為對于這樣一個摻雜著復雜情感的問題會有一個簡單的答案，我也不想妄言對別人來說哪種選擇是對的。不過對于我自己來說，當初沒有徹底“退出”是值得的。

????當孩子還小、需要人照料的時候，我通過干兼職工作，一直沒有遠離職場。因此等他們上學之后，我也不必經(jīng)歷重返職場的種種困難。上周日，我讀到朱蒂絲?沃爾納的文章時，我對我的選擇深感慶幸。

????我還想起了我的女兒在小學四年級時讀過《追逐維米爾》（Chasing Vermeer）一書后，花了幾周時間寫的書評。她在“關(guān)于作者”一欄中寫道：“作者布魯?巴莉葉特花了五年時間寫了《追逐維米爾》一書，因為她要一邊教書，一邊照顧她的孩子們。”我很喜歡讀這一段，因為我發(fā)現(xiàn)，她已經(jīng)意識到，在人生的某些階段，有些事或多或少會占用我們的時間，但是我們永遠不必完全放棄其它的事情，因為正是那些千頭萬緒的事情塑造了我們。

????本文作者林賽?梅德是一位母親，也是一位作家兼獵頭顧問，她與丈夫和子女生活在馬薩諸塞州的劍橋。她畢業(yè)于普林斯頓大學英文專業(yè)，還擁有哈佛商學院的MBA學位。梅德每天都在www.adesignsovast.com上發(fā)表文章。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：樸成奎

????As my children grow older, I feel more certain, not less, that it was the right decision for me to keep working. They are in school all day every day now, and I am grateful that my years of part-time work enabled me to ramp up to a challenging and interesting position now. Do I feel exhausted, and overwhelmed, and as though there are too many demands on me? Yes. Do I feel that our lives could be simpler? Yes. But do most of my friends who are mothers, regardless of the choices they've made about their careers, feel the same way? Without doubt, yes.

????It seems unavoidable, the paradox that life is long and the years when our children are at home full-time are vanishingly short. These are years we can't get back, with our children, in our professions, in our lives. I don't think there's a single answer to something so fraught with emotion, and I don't presume to know what's right for others. For me, it was worth it never to opt out completely.

????By staying in the workforce, albeit in part-time roles, when my children were small and at home, I never had to opt back in when they went to school full-time. When I read Judith Warner's piece last Sunday, I felt grateful for having made my choice.

????I also thought about what my daughter wrote in the "about the author" section of the book she spent weeks writing in fourth grade: "It took Blue five years to write Chasing Vermeer, because she was teaching and also taking care of her kids." I loved reading this, because I saw that she recognized that life has seasons when certain things take more or less of our time, but that we don't ever have to let go entirely of the various strands that make up who we are.

????Lindsey Mead is a mother, writer, and executive search consultant who lives in Cambridge, Mass. with her husband, daughter, and son. She graduated from Princeton with a degree in English and has an MBA from Harvard Business School. Mead writes daily at A Design So Vast.