One Secret to a Working Mom's Success: Keep Standing

Me, standing in Barbados Those of us who live our lives out loud on the internet subject ourselves to scrutiny. Some comment, "Nobody's life is perfect. These posts must be fake," Those making those comments might even be close to us because they "know our business" and they whisper and gossip and say, "she's so fake".  To those who may read my blog and make such comments, (the trolls) know that I hear you, see you, and completely disagree. 

Working Mom Tales: Another Peek Into My Life

(Here's a post that I neglected to publish from a couple of weeks ago.)

I've been working with a graphic designer to develop a logo. She changed strategies because she felt like our initial version was too busy and chaotic. Upon reflection, that image may be conveying the right image. It seems as if my entire mission in life is to find clarity in the midst of the chaos...

It's Saturday morning and I am a presenter at a conference that is focused on effective communication in healthcare. So, while it is the weekend, I woke up at 6:30 AM, got dressed in real clothes and drove to downtown Pittsburgh so that I could educate a crowd of people things that I do in my real job. It went well and people at the conference probably think that I "have it together". My high school drama experience has served me quite well.

Here's what they didn’t see...



It was hard waking up this morning. My general Friday ritual involves playing with the toddler, bathing her and putting her to bed and winding down with a glass of wine or a cocktail. Hell, my blog readers are my friends. So, I'll tell the truth. That's my daily ritual. However, on Friday night I allow myself to have more than one glass. Despite my conference presentation, last night was no different. So, this morning I wanted to sleep at least until 8. So, I struggled a bit.

The struggle was a bit more pronounced because Andre didn't get home until after 3:00AM. He is in the midst of a project and that kept him out. When he got home he wanted to snuggle. REALLY?! Yes, really. I ignored him. Don't judge me! Couples who work different shifts have some real challenges.

After I showered in the morning I was trying to decide on an outfit. Even though I have enough clothes to open a boutique I sometimes struggle in identifying an outfit. My struggle is more pronounced when I really don’t want to go where I'm going. Even though I was excited about speaking at the conference six months ago this morning I wasn't feeling it.

So, I put on a shirt, skirt, and blazer. Then I reconsidered the skirt so I changed it. At that moment Andre woke up and said that he didn't like the new skirt. He preferred the first one. Even though he insists that he's not into clothes, sometimes he's a critic. That's exactly what one needs when they are annoyed, running late and planning to stand in front of a room of people. Based on his critique, I changed into the original skirt. As soon as I woke out of the door I was glad that I did. Perhaps, I'll tell Andre that he was right. That’s unlikely, but we'll see.
The other thing that added flavor to the day was that Andre and I were double booked and had not taken care of our childcare arrangements.  He promised to take care of it, but apparently forgot to ask anybody to watch her.  Imagine that?!
I had planned to walk downtown, but couldn’t because I left too late.  Since the car seat is in my car, I had to drive Andre’s car. I HATE driving his car. He works in his car. He eats in his car. And I swear that he has so much trash in there that it looks like he sleeps in there too. As I drove his car I hoped that nobody would see me in there.  Fortunately, they didn’t. 

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