Poem-

Last Tuesday I worked 12.5 hours,
came home, and worked on my company
for another two hours.
Megan and Gavin were sound asleep
as I typed away, responding to clients.
The next day I worked another 12.5 hours,
came home, and worked on my company.
Megan and Gavin were sound asleep
as I typed away, responding to clients.
I managed to work 48 hours with my
second job pulling wire, fishing through
insulation and drilling holes in studs with
hole hawg drills with 18 inch bits.
Gavin is now in daycare. I haven’t fully processed
that. I think I’ve pushed that down for another time.
He’s three, and I’ve been his primary caretaker until now.
Gavin is loving ‘school’ and has transitioned incredibly well.
While I drive him to the ‘schoolhouse’ in the morning we
look for werewolves, Bigfoot, witches and ghosts in the woods.
Gavin puts on his serious face and studies the forest as we drive,
and when I drop him off I say, ‘Mommy will pick you up after your nap.
Love you bud.’ He always waves goodbye and says, ‘Bye Daddy.’ He’s only
started to cry a few times. I carry the cry with me as I drive to my second job.
It’s simple really. Priority. My priority is family. The cost of our build is going over
and we need more money. Simple. Work more. I’ve missed working with my hands,
after all, I’m from mud. I enjoy the dirt. I become disgustingly sweaty on the hot and humid days, and that’s perfectly fine. I think of Megan and Gavin and our house. I think
of what our lives will look like in five, ten, fifteen years and beyond. I think of the hundreds of miles of trails in back of our house and the multiple lakes in the region that can be fly-fished and what a blizzard might look like from my second story office window. I think of how my sweat soaked pants will only last a few hours and the dirt will quickly was off and I am thankful. It’s not that I have to work and that I have to get up early, it’s that I have the opportunity to work a second job and with that comes my continuous journey of growth that I hope never runs out even after I’m gone.

-M. Taggart