Bureaucrat to Baby Steps

Category: Journey

  • I Was Asked to Tell My Story. I’m Still Not Sure It Matters.

    I Was Asked to Tell My Story. I’m Still Not Sure It Matters.

    A former public servant reflects on job loss, financial instability, and the emotional tension of sharing her story with policymakers who may not have the power to act.

  • One and Done Wasn’t the Plan

    One and Done Wasn’t the Plan

    A personal reflection on being one and done, navigating a remaining IVF embryo, solo motherhood, aging parents, and the realities of modern family planning after 40.

  • When Stability Turns Out to Be Conditional

    When Stability Turns Out to Be Conditional

    There’s a particular kind of disillusionment that comes from realizing that the “safe” choices weren’t actually safe. Public sector careers are often framed as the steady alternative. Lower risk. Predictable. Secure. But that stability is conditional. It depends on political priorities, budget cycles, and decisions made far above your pay grade. And when those shift,…

  • Closing the Gap: Why the Future of Work Must Account for Caregiving

    Closing the Gap: Why the Future of Work Must Account for Caregiving

    Final piece in the series Work, Care, and the Missing Middle For too long, the structure of work has assumed something that is no longer true. That most workers have uninterrupted availability. That caregiving happens outside of professional life. And that productivity can be measured primarily in hours spent at a desk. These assumptions are…

  • The Childcare Cost Trap: When Working No Longer Makes Financial Sense

    The Childcare Cost Trap: When Working No Longer Makes Financial Sense

    Part of the series Work, Care, and the Missing Middle There is a moment many parents encounter, often quietly and sometimes with a bit of disbelief, when the numbers stop making sense. For me, that understanding did not come all at once. During COVID, I remember speaking with a relative who had been laid off.…

  • The Missing Middle of the Modern Workforce: Why Fractional Jobs Are the Future for Caregivers

    The Missing Middle of the Modern Workforce: Why Fractional Jobs Are the Future for Caregivers

    This article is part of a series, Work, Care, and the Missing Middle, exploring how motherhood, caregiving, and economic policy intersect with the future of professional work. Drawing from both personal experience and a career in public service, this series looks at the growing gap between how we work and how we live—and what it…

  • Part 5: Relearning Strength — The Long Road of Postpartum Recovery

    Part 5: Relearning Strength — The Long Road of Postpartum Recovery

    Part of the series: The Fourth Trimester in Real Life — reflections on birth, recovery, community, and the quiet systems that shape early motherhood. One of the things no one really prepares you for after pregnancy is how weak your body can feel. After having a C-section, I quickly realized just how much my body…

  • Part 3: Two Years Later — A Letter to My Dad

    Part 3: Two Years Later — A Letter to My Dad

    In the first two pieces of this series, I wrote about the early postpartum weeks and the systems that shape those first days after birth and the community that stepped in to help carry me through them. But becoming a mother didn’t just make me think about recovery, support, or survival. It also brought me…

  • Part 1: Birth & the Six‑Week Postpartum Journey

    Part 1: Birth & the Six‑Week Postpartum Journey

    Survival Mode and Invisible Labor Birth is immediate. It is visceral and consuming and unmistakably human. In my case, it was also carefully planned—and then suddenly not. I went into the hospital for a scheduled induction because of gestational diabetes, prepared for a long but controlled process. We expected a large baby, close to nine…

  • SNAP Isn’t a Handout: How Food Assistance Helped Me Breathe During Unemployment

    SNAP Isn’t a Handout: How Food Assistance Helped Me Breathe During Unemployment

    A compassionate guide to SNAP: eligibility, application tips, system glitches, and why food assistance can stabilize families during job loss and major life transitions.