Papa Pete
I gave birth and went back to work pretty quickly afterwards. I took off about a month, but really, I was never “off.”
If you run your own business, you get this. If you don’t, allow me to explain. My business was open while I traversed the unknown waters of motherhood and then again, 17 months later, while I navigated the equally foreign waters of a newborn AND a toddler.
I own my business which means that if I’m not working, I’m not making money. There was not a moment during my “maternity leave,” and I use that term lightly, that I wasn’t in-touch with my business, making decisions for my business, implementing marketing, calling clients and staying on top of it all.
Keeping my hands on the wheel was imperative. You take your hands off the wheel of a business and it can easily veer into oncoming traffic.
I’m not going to even pretend it was easy, ‘cause adding to all of it was the physical discomfort associated with pushing something the size of a watermelon out of something the size of a lemon and hormones zipping around your body like a wicked game of “Emotion Roulette:” I’M FINE. EVERYTHING IS FINE.
But, that’s just me, with a small business, a business that has no bearing on anything, really, other than me and my family. It’s of the utmost importance to my life, yes, but it didn’t impact the nation in any way. Please. What I do is not important in the grand scheme of things.
I share all of this, because back in August, Pete Buttigieg and his husband announced they were the proud parents of two newborn children. I’m very happy for them. The feeling of being a new parent is overwhelming and I am sure they are also navigating some foreign waters. All new parents do. You are hit smack in the heart with love like you’ve never known mixed with a gripping fear that YOU’RE DOING EVERYTHING WRONG.
I wish them both all good things.
And if you’ve noticed over the past couple of months, since the August announcement, Pete has been absent from a lot of stuff. As in, where is he? It’s not that things are chill and everything is up to speed and we have no issues, which makes the absence of Pete even more puzzling.
And then we find out: Pete has been on paid paternity leave since mid-August.
Now, before you get all snippy and tell me he has every right to take 4-6 weeks off to care for his newborn children, and who am I or ANYONE to tell him he can’t, let me say that you’re right: Pete owns his own business so the “leaving of his post,” if you will, affects no one but he and his family. He can run his business and his life as he sees fit.
Wait. Hold on. I forgot.
Pete Buttigieg isn’t running a small corner bistro…he’s the freaking TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY OF THE UNITED STATES.
And as Secretary of Transportation, Pete oversees some pretty important agencies, including, but not limited to:
The Federal Aviation Administration (air traffic)
The Federal Railroad Administration (railroads)
Federal Highway Administration (interstate highways)
The Maritime Administration (waterborne transportation in the US)
Now, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but we’ve got a backlog of half a million containers waiting to be unloaded at US ports. The White House is outright telling Americans there WILL be shortages this winter. The hashtag #EmptyShelvesJoe is trending on Twitter. This is an “all hands on deck” sort of situation.
And while this is happening, Pete has pretty much been offline. The first four months he was out completely, and, according to his spokesperson, he will “continue to take some time (off) over the coming weeks to support his husband and take care of his new children.”
We’ve been seeing more of Pete lately. I’m glad for that. I mean, Pete didn’t necessarily cause the problems, but it’s nice to know the Secretary of Transportation is actually engaged in BEING the Secretary of Transportation once again. Will anything change? I don’t know, but at least he appears to be showing up again, unlike the products on American shelves.
Maybe this will start a trend and we’ll see the person in charge of the border once again, BEING in charge of the border.
One can only hope.