I need to make a confession. As a working mom I am guilty of two things: #1: Working And Being Absent #2: Hiding From My Family. Sometimes we get into a routine of working such long hours, it becomes our reality. Coming home too early means parenting AND adulting. Which is fine - except when the overload becomes too much.

As economic reactivation occurs - or for as long as it continues, I am trying to find a better balance between work and family.

All pictures are my original photography and rights are restricted to Open Minded Traveler. I use a Sony NEX-3N and basic photography principles, or a Samsung S7. Most pictures are edited using Canva Pro.

Dear Diary - My Monday Was Wonderful

Today, we hurried through our devotions and reading so Daniel and I could get out the door by 9:00 AM. I had my English student at 10:00 in a nearby pueblo and it takes most of an hour to get there. We arrived at 9:45 and Daniel chased birds in the main park until my student arrived to pick us up.

The reason I brought Daniel with me, was because my student also has a 5-year-old. To my immense pleasure, they both hit it off well. The rest of the morning was divided between English and mother-duties with the children who were in an adjacent room. You would be surprised how hard it can be at times to find compatible children who can both play together in a healthy or normal fashion.

Time flew and pretty soon we were being dropped off again at the main park. But that wasn't the end of our special day together. Villamaria and Manizales are connected by a metro-cable/gondola that picks us up at the main park in Villamaria, goes down to the main bus terminal, and straight up the mountain to el Centro (downtown), Manizales. Daniel loves it!

We went shopping for socks and a new shirt for Daniel, but took our time wandering around. Since he came into this world, Daniel has always been a "callejero," or street kid. Not in a derogatory way, but in the sense that he absolutely adores going out and seeing all the noise, chaos, colors and people of the streets of Colombia. He craves that higher level of stimulation that for many foreign residents can actually be a bit overwhelming.

On the other hand, Daniel is his mothers son, because I absolutely adore exploring the streets of Latin America on foot with camera in hand. It's become a bit of a pastime during Covid-19 to occasionally spend time wandering and taking pictures.

Lately, I haven't been wandering much, or had my camera with me. But, as my work continues to pick up again I fully expect to start traveling more, which means new content! I also need to go to Pereira soon and make my presence known so I don't lose my connections or the confidence of my clients there - not that any of us has a lot of confidence right now, but we are all throwing the dice on what we hope the future holds and then bearing down as it comes towards us.

It was late by the time we got home, around 3:00 PM, and Daniel was proclaiming in a loud voice that he "was not tired!" until he nodded off and slept on the 45 minute bus ride. He is such a little badass - and I am not afraid to say it. I can't imagine what he will be like as a teenager, but I hope I am able to wrangle that critter when it comes at me.

As I finish this, the rain is easing off as the sun has come out giving us another beautiful evening here in the Sunset Factory.

Until tomorrow friends, enjoy your evening!

If you feel a kindred spirit with my DIARY entry in times of Coronavirus, New Opportunities and Colombia, then do your part to help a neighbor! Be sure to upvote, comment and/or give me a resteem, of this post. Tell a friend - and join #thediarygame so we can all bring home the rewards of high quality content curation on the @SteemitBlog ecosystem during #the50daysofsteem

I am a proud member of Team Colombia with @marpa @franyeligonzalez @josevas217, and @helengutier2.

If you missed my last post from Day #31, you can read it HERE: https://steemit.com/thediarygame/@openmindedtravel/the-diary-game-or-09-06-20-or-day-31-mama-daniel-and-a-puppy