Career vs. Family

The letter from the Company read "We are pleased to inform you that you have been promoted to the rank of Senior Payroll Officer, with effect from 1st January, 1990." A sought after position with many contenders. Call it luck, call it based on performance, call it whatever, I was happy for this recognition".

Rushed home that day to share the good news with the family. Kids were too small to understand the implications of such an announcement, but seeing the happiness on my face rushed to give tight hugs. My husband while congratulating me, had a frown on his face, quite unusual after sharing the news with him.  

After some time, he took me.aside and said "Rita while I'm overjoyed with your promotion, it seems you will have to put your career on hold for the time being. Today I received a communication from the Head Office offering me a jump to Senior Vice President for their IT division, but the position requires me to move to Bangalore. So you have the choice of staying back with the children in Kolkata or moving to Bangalore".

I was taken by surprise. How could I give up this offer, that I had worked so hard to earn, disrupt the children's education, uproot our well-settled home and move to a new city, new schools for the girls. Totally unfair I thought to myself. I tried to talk to my boss for a transfer to our Bangalore office, and much as he wanted me to continue with the organization, there was no opening for me. Clearly I had the choice of resigning or staying on.  

After much consideration, I decided my place was with my husband and resigned after putting in nearly two decades of service, and a career rise. But then in life, there are choices one has to make, keeping aside one's own ambitions, for the betterment of keeping the family together.  

Now when I look back, I realise I had taken the right decision. Not only did I benefit from more time available to pursue further studies, but the opportunity of being a full-time mother to my girls. At the end of it all, I wasn't the loser. Today my girls have made me proud of their achievements in life. Maybe because of my presence at home to give them a wholesome upbringing which could not have happened otherwise.