The Best Job in The World

Written by New Shoots staff member, Jen Sievers, when her daughter was 2 months old.

I've recently started a new job.

My boss is quite a tyrant.

I have to be at work 24 hours a day, every day of the week. She demands late nights and deals in sleep deprivation. She doesn't speak English – she speaks a very vague and confusing language that seems to change with every day. A lot of her language comes out as crying that will break the most hardened heart. Through a lot of trial and error we're beginning to understand each other, and I've heard that eventually we'll be able to have a conversation. For now we silently congratulate each other when I get just one of her requests right.

The job doesn't pay.

Well, not in the traditional way. Not a cent goes into my bank account (quite a lot goes out), but I'm banking up every single smile she dishes out. In fact, I spend a large portion of my day trying to get as many smiles out of her as I can, they're worth more than gold or saffron.

The job description is very confusing.

The basics of the job are easy to figure out – I know I need to feed her, love her and keep her alive- but everything else is up for grabs. There are about 9000 manuals with conflicting instructions, all swearing that they're the only way to proceed without completely messing her up for life. I've decided to read as many as I can and ignore all of them. You see, right now, I'm more qualified than anyone else to work for this particular boss, so it’s up to me to figure it out.

It's all-consuming.

Doing this job means that, for now, there isn't a spare brain cell for thoughts that are not related to her. It may have turned me into a bore, I'm sorry if my eyes are permanently glazed over, but it takes that much attention to get the job done right. Luckily there's another wonderful person working here that makes sure I eat and shower and our house doesn't fall apart. Luckily he also knows when to wipe my tears of frustration and holds my hand through it all.

I can't ever quit.

When I signed up for this job, I signed an invisible contract that means I can never ever quit. No matter how hard it gets. Luckily, just as it gets difficult, while I'm trying to get her to sleep at 4am, the boss gives me one of those priceless smiles, or snuggles into my chest with her tiny warmness... and there's absolutely no other place I would rather be. She seems to know just when to give me those moments, just as I teeter on the edge of my sleep-deprived-sanity.

I've recently started a new job.

It's the best job in the world.

The only one that will ever really matter.

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