Spring days.

The Marvelous Miss Thing and I rode our tandem bike to and from school today. It was a beautiful day. It's only a mile to school.

I have been pondering the reality of my situation, the tenure track process (and prospects of such), and my previous experiences over the past twelve years or so.

I realized that a year ago, I would not have ridden my bike with my daughter to school because it would have taken an extra 20 minutes total. I couldn't waste that kind of precious time when I could use it for prepping for a class, working on my dissertation or reading some article. Even twenty minutes was a precious commodity.

I was writing up a post about my pursuit of a tenure track position, but I think I'm going to let it simmer for a while. It's not that I don't want one. Or, that I didn't want one. But these past three months "off work" have made our family so much more balanced and happy. Mr. H and I don't fight about work and whose career is more important. We're not trying to schedule personal and couple time in conjunction with work time. No one is worrying about Miss Thing getting her homework done.

I still enjoy working. I've got my little gig on the side, and Mr. H and I are seriously discussing starting a small business in conjunction with my candies. We think it has legs. I've gotten some really positive feedback recently.

However, in reflection, I would hate to be too busy to ride my bike with my daughter to school on a beautiful day again.