This is a series for The Honest Body Project featuring working moms.  The mothers in this series are balancing motherhood with their careers and sharing their stories. I hope that other working mothers will be able to relate and know that they aren’t alone.  One hope that most working mothers share is that one day we will hopefully have paid maternity leave for all mothers in the US. This is such an important issue.

Why are the women showing their bodies? Because The Honest Body Project photographs women in a new light with untouched portraits to help fight the messages society sends that all bodies must be “perfect” and look a certain way.

-Natalie McCain (Creator and photographer of The Honest Body Project)  Want to contact Natalie? Email me at thehonestbody@gmail.com

“I always knew that I wanted to be a working mom. The thought of staying home with my kids only crossed my mind when I actually became pregnant with my first child in September during my first year as a teacher. Despite the fact that my husband and I had been trying to get pregnant, I found myself completely overwhelmed by the news. Being a first year teacher was hard enough as it was, and I could not even begin to fathom how I would make that life coincide with my life as a new mother. I always imagined being a teacher and a mother, but I never imagined how I would do that with an infant. The thought of putting my baby in day care horrified me. As a teacher, you would think that I would have the ability to entrust my child in someone else’s care, but I couldn’t even let the thought cross my mind without crying. Throughout my pregnancy, I knew I wanted to breast-feed my baby for the first year. However, as a teacher I barely had time in my day to feed myself and use the restroom, let alone pump breast-milk! I thought about how my school is set up, and the only private area where I could pump would have been the student bathrooms in my classroom, which is certainly not the ideal place to pump. Honestly, to this day, I have no idea how moms who go back to teaching manage to nurse a baby!”

“I spent my entire first year of teaching battling my decision to stick with my career, or stay at home with my baby. It wasn’t an easy decision. My husband is a police officer, so we definitely depend upon my income. We knew that if I stayed home, finances would be extremely tight. Many of the teacher mothers I worked with that year had told me that they always took a year leave of absence after they had a baby, and that it wasn’t a problem. Ultimately, I decided to do the same. It only took me about 4 months after my son was born to realize that I was not cut out to be a stay at home mom. I was a young mother, hardly any of my friends had babies, and my son had colic. My days often felt long and lonely. I became jealous of my husband for “getting to have a job”. I still was not ready to leave him full time to return to teaching, but I did feel the urge to return to work. I went back to waiting tables so I could work short hours. For a while, I had the best of both worlds, I was a stay at home mom during the day, and a working mom at night. I ended up extending my leave of absence from teaching, because I knew I wanted to have more children. I also learned that teaching had fallen upon some hard times, and that a job that my professors had told us many times would “always be in demand” ended up being a job where many people were finding themselves out of work. I finally returned to the profession after 6 full years of not teaching. My son was in the second grade and my daughter was in VPK.”

“I often wonder how my life would be different if I had chosen a different profession. It is no surprise that teaching is a highly demanding job. During the first few weeks of school, I always feel like I must be the worst mother and wife ever. I never know if I am coming or going, I am always frazzled and I constantly forget important things. It also comes as no surprise that teachers are not very highly compensated for their work. The thought of going back to school for something else to ease some time and money related stress as a mother has crossed my mind. But then I think about how I don’t have to worry about childcare during school breaks, and how I get to spend my entire summer with my kids (even though I do sneak some work in here and there). Having that time with my kids while they are young is invaluable. Sure, they get a crazy, frazzled, stressed out mom during the school year, but then I am all theirs every summer, every winter break, every spring break. It’s a pretty even trade if you ask me!

“I have two kids, a 9 year old boy and a 7 year old girl. I am often so proud of how independent my children are. I am proud that the two of them share a close relationship and a tight bond. I love that they have always been able to entertain one another and themselves. I believe a lot of this has to do with the fact that I am a working mom, and that, as a teacher, much of my work comes home with me. Their independence has their down sides too. I sometimes feel like when I finally do have time to spend with my kids, we don’t spend it together. Its as if the two of them have their own thing going, and they aren’t quite sure how I fit into the mix. Sometimes I feel like they don’t even consider asking to do things with me, and just go about their normal day because they assume I am too busy to spend time with them.”

“I joined the military straight out of college. I was active duty for a few years and I am currently a reservist. In addition to that, I have worked full-time for the past 4 years. Between my full-time job and my part-time reserves commitment, I am busy and on-the-go a lot. I have an 18-month-old daughter…so between working, my home life, and my social life, I consider myself very busy.  In my 20’s, I honestly did not think much about having children. My husband and I got married fairly young, and between work and going to grad school (at the time) I never really had time to think about being a mom…let alone being a working mom. When I turned 30 I actually gave it some thought. I knew I wanted to have a child but I also knew that I wanted to continue to work on my career. I wanted to have both.”

“I was given ZERO paid maternity leave. I was, by law (FMLA), allowed to take up to 12 weeks unpaid leave from my job. I took my entire allotment allowed by law…but it was not nearly long enough in my opinion. For my reserve job, I had to go on reserve duty even before that…when my daughter was 8 weeks old. I had to leave her for 4 days. It was a very difficult thing for me to do at her young age…but I had my service to my country to get back to as well. I think that the US has an abysmal idea of what maternity leave should be in this country. Many women get almost no time allowed to be with their child during the most crucial bonding times. Not to mention those women that are breastfeeding…being a working mom, especially a travelling working mom in those very early months makes breastfeeding a very very difficult task.”

“I love having a career that I love and that I am proud of. I am a meteorologist, so this career field is very hard to jump back out of and back into. I love living comfortably and being able to provide for myself and my family. I also love knowing that I am going to be a positive role-model for my daughter someday. My day starts at 6am. I get up, get myself ready, and get breakfast and lunch ready for my and my husband. My daughter gets up at 7am. We get her ready and we are all out the door by 730am. Either me or my husband takes her to daycare, but most days I do it because the daycare is located on base where I work. I am at work from 8am-430pm. I leave work, pick my daughter up and we are home around 5pm. 5pm-8pm is filled with cooking, playing, and general family time. At 8pm, we give our daughter a bath and put her to bed. 8pm-11pm is typically time for me and hubby to spend catching up on the day, catching up on house tasks, and relaxing. We go to bed at 11pm to wake up and do it all again the next day. We have a very structured and set routine, and I think that helps manage the work week. On the weekends, we make plenty of time to relax and have fun.”

“Be proud of what you are doing. Do not feel like you are being any “less of a mother” for wanting to focus on your career and your family both. It is possible to have both, you just need to make sure you balance your life and keep yourself in check. Make time for yourself. You cannot be everything to everyone else all the time. You need that time for you to relax and recuperate. I would also say let your spouse or partner be responsible for things too! Don’t try to take on everything yourself…you will drive yourself crazy. Trust that he/she will take care of your child and the housework when needed. The more you share, the less crazy you will make yourself feel.”

“I cannot tell you the negative comments I see regarding daycare. I had some negative comments when I returned to work, particularly one person at work that said “but she is so little to have her in daycare!”. I will tell you this. I love our daycare. My daughter loves our daycare. I am proud of the things she learns there and I am extremely pleased with the level of care she gets there daily. I would not change it. It works for our family, and we have no plans of changing that anytime soon. Stand up to negative comments. Remember, you are your child’s mother…you are doing what you see is best for you and your family. Know in your heart that you are no better or worse than any other mother or family. Whether it be stay-at-home moms, work-at-home moms, or working outside-of-the-home moms…we are all in this together and we are all doing what works for us. And we all need to support one another…regardless of what your are doing yourself.”

“I am an academic advisor for a college in New York. Before moving to Florida, I worked at the college in person. When my husband and I decided to move, I was given permission to telecommute, so I was already telecommuting for about 14 months before my first son was born. It has been a tremendous blessing for our family. I almost feel like I’m cheating a little bit as a working mom, because I’ve had so many advantages. My sons were home with me as babies, with my mother caring for them in the next room while I worked. When they got older, I found an amazing preschool five minutes from my house, and they spent part of the day there and part of the day with one of their two grandmothers. Now they are both in elementary school, still just five minutes from my house. All of their grandparents are local, and my husband has a great job close to our house and their school, so if my work prevents me from being at a school event, they have plenty of other family members who can attend. I can drive them to school and walk them to their classroom doors because I have no commute of my own. They’re back with me as soon as my work day ends, because their grandmother brings them home at that time and I’m already there. I have a generous amount of paid time off through my job, which I’m able to use to volunteer in their classrooms. I truly feel like I am surrounded by support when it comes to being a working mom.”

“I always planned to be a working mom. I went to college and graduate school with the goal of finding a career that I found interesting, challenging, and meaningful. I ended up in the field of higher education, which meets all of that criteria for me. I work mainly with non-traditional students, who did not attend college right after high school and instead are seeking degrees as working adults. They often have stories of trying to better themselves for their own families. I take pride in assisting them. Once I became a mom, I realized that I also found that job interesting, challenging, and meaningful. Luckily, I can have both jobs. For me, a major benefit of being a working mom is the interactions I have with my colleagues and students. I enjoy the problem solving I get to do, and I feel passionate about helping others achieve their educational goals. I am glad my boys are seeing me do something I’m good at. Both my husband and I work in higher education and value it very much, and that’s on display every day for our children.”

“One of the things I struggle with as a working mom is not having any room for spontaneity. Most of my local friends are stay at home moms. When my sons were little, we would plan a playdate a week or so in advance. I’d take the time off work, and then sometimes when the day would come, they would decide the weather looked better for the next day and change it at the last minute. That meant that not only could my sons and I not attend, I’d wasted the time off. I also struggle with not being able to help my sons’ teachers if the request comes in too late. I use just about all my time off to be at their school. I’ve been on almost every field trip for three years, I’ve never missed a performance, and I volunteer in the classroom whenever I can. I can never save up enough time for a family vacation because I can’t resist using it all to be with my boys at school. But if something is suddenly planned or last minute help is needed, I am unable to participate, and that’s frustrating for me.”

“Although telecommuting is a huge advantage, it does have its downfalls. I struggle a lot with isolation. I can’t see my stay at home mom friends and their kids during my work hours, but I also don’t see my colleagues in person. I spend a lot of time alone. I make my husband crazy sometimes, because he comes home and just wants to stay there, but I’m often itching to get out of the house. I also struggle with housework. Working moms still have the same amount of laundry, dishes, and other chores, but we have to fit it into our non-working hours. In my case, I’m home all day but can’t use the time to do housework because I’m working. If dishes pile up or the mountain of laundry gets out of control, I have to walk by it every time I leave my office to use the bathroom or get a drink, but I can’t do anything about it.”

“I have rarely felt judged for being a working mom. I have managed to surround myself with almost exclusively positive, accepting, intelligent people with a “Live and let live” philosophy. I’ve gotten a comment or two over the years, but the longer you’re a mom, the more you realize that almost everything negative that’s said to you is less about you and more about the person saying it. Somebody insulting your choices is almost always just insecure about their own. You doing something differently than they chose to do it is scary for them. It makes them wonder if they’re doing something wrong, so they try to take you down to raise themselves up. Spoiler alert: It never works. My advice to other working moms would be to embrace it as part of who you are and know that you’re a great example for your children. If you’re a working mom because you love your career, then you’re modeling commitment to something you’re passionate about and the ability to use hard work to achieve your dreams. If you’re a working mom who would rather stay at home but has to work to pay the bills, then you’re modeling being a good provider for your family and persevering even when the circumstances are not exactly what you’d wish for.”

“My mother raised me alone until the age of three. She worked full time to provide for me the best life she could dream of and didn’t ask my biological father for a penny. I learned early on to appreciate all the hard work and long hours my mother put in. Sure there were missed dinners and bedtime stories, but I knew she loved me and was doing what she needed to do for me. When my mom married later down the line she continued to be the primary source of income. My step dad was Mr. Mom and would run us to dance class and make sure we had dinner on the table. Growing up I saw it as normal to have a working mom while dad stayed at home. I always knew I would be a working mother, just like my mom. I dreamed of a wonderful job one day that would help me provide for my family. I had no idea what I wanted to do for a career, but I knew it wasn’t to be a stay at home mom. I applaud those woman who can stay home every day. Who cook, clean, and maintain their sanity. I love my daughter dearly and enjoy every moment we have together, but my job is a HUGE part of who I am. I truly feel like I was born to be in the medical field. To educate my patients on how to improve their health, to greet them with a smile at every doctors visit, to call them with diagnostic results both good and bad. They are my second family and they all hold a special place in my heart. I laugh with them and I cry with them. They tell me about their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They ask how my daughter is doing and ask to see pictures. We build a relationship with each other and it is truly special to me.”

“I started working as a receptionist for a doctor’s office right out of High School. I wanted to work and had minimal interest in attending college right away. As time went on I knew that the medical field was for me. I enrolled in the local community college and got my vocational certificate as a Medical Assistant. I took some time off from school to get married to my high school sweetheart and start my family. Thankfully I have a husband who always encourages me to chase my dreams, so I am back to school on the path to becoming a Registered Nurse. The plan is for me to continue to work full time and be able to support our family. Being a working mom is so rewarding to me. Of course I miss my daughter while we are apart, but I am thankful for a 9-5 type job. We get to have dinner together every night and I am joyed to be home for bedtime routine. We have our weekends together to go the park and spend time as a family.”

“One of the problems of being a working mom is all the playgroups we miss out on. All the stay at home moms meet up every week at the mall or a playground to have playdates. I want to be a part of that world but very rarely are there weekend events. I have friends with little ones and we get to hang out, but I lack the ability to make new mom friends.”

“It wasn’t until I was preparing for maternity leave that I realized what a problem we have here in America. No paid maternity leave for mothers? While most countries are getting months paid, we get nothing! Not a day of pay. Come on America, wake up! I grew a human for 9 months. I went through 21 hours of labor to bring her into this world, and now you want me to come back to work immediately so I can keep a roof over our heads? The company I work for offers short term disability where I received a (small) fraction of my pay. But I had to PAY to even get the short term disability. It wasn’t given to me. This was going to allow me 6 weeks off with my daughter to bond and establish our breastfeeding relationship. At 8 months pregnant I found out to even use my short term leave I had to first use all my vacation and sick time bank. This ended up giving us 11 wonderful weeks together. Which was a nice surprise and I was so grateful for our special time together. Finances were tough for those 3 months but I am so thankful we could make it work. My heart breaks for all the other working moms who don’t get those precious moments in the beginning. I hope this will change and America can offer better maternity leave for mothers, so we don’t have to drain our savings accounts to make it happen.”

“I thought going back to work was going to be the hardest day of my life. I cried the whole way to the sitters to drop her off. I cried as I nursed my sweet 3 month old baby. I cried as I passed her off and got into the car. I cried until I got to the end of the street. That’s when it hit me, it was only 8 hours. I would be back soon, and I was driving to a work environment that I loved. She would be there when I got off. She would still need me when I returned. She would still love me and everything would be okay. I have never regretted my choice to go back to work.”

“As soon as I found out I was pregnant I knew I wanted to breastfeed my daughter. I didn’t know any nursing moms but it was something I had to make happen for us. I joined breastfeeding support groups and learned all about Florida laws regarding my rights to pump and where. I read reviews on pumps and milk storage. Anything I could get my hands on to educate myself on what it was going to take to be a full time working nursing mother. What if she wouldn’t take a bottle? What if I couldn’t keep my supply up? Thankfully we had a fantastic breastfeeding relationship. I nursed her whenever we were together, and I pumped for her every day at work. I made phone calls, documented in charts, and reviewed physician schedules while I pumped. I made it happen for 17 months. Breastfeeding my daughter was such an important part of our relationship and helped us reconnect after a long day apart. Now I try to be an advocate for other working/pumping moms. It’s so important to lift each other up and encourage each other. I’ve had girls from other departments that I have never met call me about breast pumps and how I made it work. It’s an awesome feeling to be able to help these ladies reach their goals as they enter parenthood.”

“Mornings have always been rough for me. Now I have a whole other person I have to get ready too. Wake up, pack our bags, and rush out the door. Get her to the sitters where they will thankfully feed her breakfast because I never manage to get us up in time to enjoy that together. Work 8 long hours where every day is different. Being a Medical Assistant is unpredictable. I can have all healthy follow-ups or everyone can be having something horrible going on. Add in an abundance of phone calls, diagnostic results, and medication refills. Wrangle the physician to answer some questions and hope to run on time with patient clinic. Clock out at 5 just to remember you forgot to plan something to make for dinner. Pinterest one-pot meals save me a lot of the times. Squeeze in bath time and some snuggles on the couch. Hope that the little one goes down easily for her 8:30 bedtime so I can relax with my husband and reflect about our day. Wake up tomorrow to do it all over again. It’s a lot to squeeze in but I wouldn’t change my life for anything. It’s hectic and rewarding all at the same time. I hope one day my children look back and realize how hard my husband and I both worked to give them the life we felt they deserved. I hope they appreciate all the time and effort that goes into making sure they are loved and taken care of.”

“When I pictured being a mom I just always assumed I’d stay at home with them until they started school. I remember my Mom being home so that was what my perception of a Mom was. When I had my daughter I was relatively young. I didn’t have to work but I did go to school part time. It was nice being able to stay at home with her, minus a few hours a week. When she was two I started a part time job. I worked for a while and then stayed home with her again. I never had a full time job until she was in 1st grade. It was a great experience being able to spend all of that time with her and I feel like our bond is super strong because of it.”

“When I unexpectedly got pregnant with my son in 2013, I was employed full-time as an RN. I know it seems nice only working 3 days a week but on those 3 days you leave before your kids are awake and get home just in time to put them to bed. It’s essentially 3 days of not seeing your kids. I knew it would be tough when my son was born but staying home just was not an option. When he was 12 weeks old, I went back to work. I struggled quite a bit with that decision. I was very tempted to leave my job and give up every luxury I had but I knew even then it still was not an option.”

“Once I went back to work the hardest thing was finding childcare. It is absolutely ridiculous. Since my daughter never went to daycare I was not familiar with how long the waiting lists were. I was blown away. I started looking for a daycare in April for my return to work in May. Well the waiting list was 7 months! I had no where near 7 months. I looked around to other daycare centers but there was surprisingly few to even consider. My hours are long and not one daycare could accommodate my hours, let alone my changing schedule every week. Very few offered part time care and the ones that did had to have set days. And the prices! Well, those are just absolutely outrageous and unaffordable to anyone, let alone a single mom. I began getting extreme anxiety about what I was going to do. Time came to return to work and I still had not find a daycare. I struggled everyday to find family or friends to watch the baby, but most people worked. I missed multiple days of work because I had nobody to keep the baby and began getting in trouble at work because of it. I struggled along until my son was 14 months old when I finally found a daycare that was close enough to me that I could drop him off and just barely make it on time for work. Of course I had to have someone pick him up everyday but that was manageable. I’m beyond blessed to have a very strong support network. My son now stays with a co-worker of mine, that I like to call an angel, on the days I work. I can’t thank her enough for being such a blessing. As I’m currently expecting number three, I’m back to stressing about what I’m going to do about childcare when I return to work.”

“Beyond all of the childcare woes that I’ve experienced being a working Mom, I honestly don’t know if I could go back to being a stay at home Mom. When I was younger I felt I handled it better, or maybe it was the fact I only had one and life was a lot less stressful back then, but I wouldn’t give up my career and sense of achievement being an RN to return back to being a SAHM. I give tremendous kudos to the stay at home moms because it is a hard job and a lot of people fail to give it the credit it deserves. I will say that I do feel my bond with my daughter was a lot stronger than it is with my son and I believe it was because I got to stay home with her for so long. I know that as time goes on my son and I’s bond will strengthen and become just as strong as my daughter’s, but it does break my heart a little.”

“In my perfect world, I would be able to stay at home with my babies for their first year of life, then return to work. I see that as giving me an opportunity to build a strong bond with them, while letting me continue doing the work I love to do and not feeling so torn about it. Returning to work after having a baby is a tough thing for the majority of women to do, and very often it’s not even a choice, but a necessity to return to work. The guilt that can go along with it is heartwrenching. My hope is that in the very near future our government mandates paid maternity leave for the first year to all women. I see that as not only benefiting baby and mother, but our society as a whole.”

“I am a 30 year old Mother of 5 pretty amazing kids. I am a working mother and I have a pretty cool job… I am a Superhero. I have about 26 jobs and counting, I am a referee, a doctor, a mediator, a coach, a cook, a tutor, a maid, a pretty cool friend, a go to person, a negotiator, a dictionary, an inventor, a locator, a bank and the list goes on. I only rest when I am sleeping and even than I am on call, never know when Super mom has to save the night from nightmares or Monsters…I work more than 40 hours a week, I work 24/7 literally. Told you I’m a Superhero…”

“I work as a Patient Communication Representative at home, But I am NOT a stay at home Mother. I consider this a part time job that I work a full 40 hours a week 9-6 typical hours they can vary, the reason this is my part time is because my full time job is being a mother of 5 kids ages from 11-2 years old. I work 8-9 hours a day to get off and rush to my second job, called being a Mom. I started this job as a PCR after my Divorce in 2014. I was always a working mother throughout my 11 years of being a mother ; at one point I had 3 jobs at once to support my kids and their needs, especially having one with special needs. With each of my kids my time returning to work varied. One child I literally worked until 2 hours before my C-section was scheduled. Another I had a meeting as I was preparing for the birth. Almost all 5 I worked about or before my 6 weeks.”

“I struggle with being a single Working mother more than being a Working mother. I struggle with not being able to be at 5 different places at once. I struggle with the feeling that sometimes I fail at being the supermom that they deserve or need. Having 3 boys they all want to be in different sports and I can’t sign them all up, whether it is due to finances or actually having the time. Being far from support, such as friends and family, makes a huge impact because I physically can’t stretch myself into 5 different moms to be at 5 different places to please all my kids. This part of being a working mom hurts me the most, because I have tried and failed.”

“I struggle with wanting adult conversation, friendship and just being able to do nothing for a few hours. No cleaning, cooking, being bothered, no breaking up fights and being the peace maker. I would love a few more minutes in the shower without someone coming in, to being in my bathroom and forgetting why I was there because I end up cleaning toys and picking up. I would love to have time to go to a store and buy something for me, maybe get a makeover and feel pretty without food in my hair, I would love to shave both of my legs without having to run out cause the baby is up from her what seems like 5 minute nap. I wish sometimes I can say at the age of 30 I had a 3 day weekend and traveled, anywhere. Being a full time mom, my sick days is pre-calculated to my kids, you never know with kids what will happen, so no vacation for me. Plus I have no one to watch them.”

“I have a nice home and a good job because I had a reason and I never gave up, 10 years ago I was homeless and becoming a mother without knowing what that was or what it truly involved. I moved hundreds of miles from what I knew and family, for my oldest son to come home from the NICU and I would do it again. I have struggled and have had times where I wouldn’t eat to make sure my kids were full. Even with these hard times, I always said I would be better than I was last year, last month and yesterday. I am far from perfect but I strive to be better. Being a mother is hard work period, whether you a stay at home mom, working on a career, or in school, they are all a full time position. We are raising little people, we are raising the future, and I work on a daily basis to be the best I can be. To any mothers that are struggling with being a working mom remember the reasons you do all you do and grind harder for them. I work hard so my kids have a high standard to meet. I want my kids to be better than me, and I show them that with daily values I have instilled hard work, discipline and ambition to be better and strive harder.”

“Selecting a daycare is one of the hardest decisions ever! You have to choose people to help care for and educate your children; people that will kiss boo boos, comfort after friends hurt their feelings and congratulate them when they master a new task. We are so blessed by our amazing facility. The teachers do truly love my boys and that means the world to me!”

“I don’t feel like I’ve been caught up at work since March 2010. I used to stay past 5 pm often, but once I gave birth, I could not and would not do that. I feel bad to always be out the door by 5:01 to get the boys from daycare, but I have coworkers who almost never arrive on time. They are single and live within minutes of work. I can count on one hand the number of times in 4.5 years I’ve been late because of a non-scheduled child issue.”

“It should never feel like a competition between moms who work and moms who stay home. At the end of the day, what matters most is that everyone is trying their best to be the best they can for the children.”

“My advice for new moms returning to work: Be gentle with yourself. Tell your husband how you need him to do his part and what that entails. Get a hands free pumping bra and nap while you pump, with big bottles on, just in case. Have extra sets of flanges. Don’t wash your pump parts in between, just at the end of the day. Crock pot every meal you can. Be honest and real with your daycare providers, whether that’s Grandma or a public center, holding on to hostility will not do you any favors, but YOU are the mama and they need to respect your parenting choices and styles. Cheese and crackers, pizza delivery and frozen lasagna are totally acceptable dinner options. If your single co-workers don’t understand, don’t worry because at the end of the day, they are not who matters.”

“The fact that we do not have paid maternity (and paternity) leave in this country is disgusting. I was able to use short-term disability and Family Medical Leave Act and received most of my salary for both boys. I have the flexibility with my job and an understanding supervisor that I could work from home when I did return to work. I am well aware that not everyone has those options. It’s heartbreaking and needs to be fixed! When I cast my vote in 2016 that will be my #1 factor. “