I worked with my mother for two weeks and I know what you are thinking, "Oh my gosh, it was so bad she quit." Well, I did not quit, as much as I may have wanted to at the time, I was just home for only two weeks. It was a long two weeks for sure but this is what I learned.

My mom and I are a lot alike, to begin with, we both have ADHD as well as OCD but they show in different ways. For most people OCD or obsessive-compulsive disorder shows up in different ways, some of it is germs, some it is organized but even then the organization is different for everyone. My mom and I are both organization oriented but we organize in very different ways. To say the least, when we were assigned the same project things got interesting.

I soon had to learn that not only my mother but also other people do not always think the same way I do, nor do they understand the methods that make sense to me because not everyone has OCD. It was frustrating at times when I had made my plan for the day and something small would interrupt it but I learned that in the real world at a real job, not everything will always go how you planned. You have to learn to adapt and go with the flow sometimes because everyone is different and sometimes stuff just happens. It is OK for stuff to just happen too, life happens that way and we cannot do anything about it except make the most out of it.

I also learned that my mom's job, an environmental health and safety manager for RWM technologies, is not as easy as it may have seemed. I used to think she got to sit around and answer phone calls, type up paperwork, reply to some emails here and there but it is quite the opposite. While she does still do some of those things, most of her time is spent on her feet either standing still or walking around a warehouse with absolutely no air circulation. I never understood why she was always tired when she came home and was annoyed sometimes when we would ask her to take us places late at night, but I now understand. It was because she was exhausted, I know I was and I was only there for two weeks, she has been there for almost 10 years.

I also learned to work 40 hours a week as a lifeguard is a lot different than working 40 hours a week in a manufacturing company. As well as my mother and I are a lot more alike then we knew and sometimes that causes us to clash. I learned a lot during those two weeks, even if it was a short period of time, it seemed like a lifetime. Never underestimate what your parents do for you every week when they get up to go to work. You will never truly understand what all they go through each and every day until you are put in their same position. I still do not have a full understanding of what all my mother does because she did everything I did and then some, I know I personally could not do all that she does.

Overall, it was an extremely tiring experience but I would not trade it for anything. I learned a lot about working for a manufacturing company. I learned and got to see and experience what my mom does each and every day and that helped me to not only grow closer to her but to develop a greater sense of respect for all that my parents do for us.