(Written last week. Thank God the Liberty Bridge Re-Opened this week.)
Pittsburgh is a beautiful city
that has three rivers running through it, which means that it relies on bridges to
make transportation work. For the past three weeks one bridge has been down and
that has brought the city to its knees, especially working moms. Indeed, ever
working mom I know, even the super organized ones who always look great and
have smiling kids, have a story about how the closure of the Liberty Bridge has
wreaked havoc on their lives. The problem is that the 55,000 people who would
normally be traveling across the Liberty Bridge are dispersed throughout the
city searching for a way to get to work and the city simply cannot accommodate
that easily.
This morning, my schedule was
disrupted. I put my makeup on earlier than usual and planned to throw on a
dress, get the baby ready and leave right after our daughter got on the bus.
Well, the bus was 30 minutes late because of detours due to construction and
the extra traffic due to the Liberty Bridge closure. Indeed, every day since
the bridge closed has been a game of "When will the bus show up".
That type of uncertainty is a curse for this working mom. I who rely on
schedules like I rely on water—they are essential to my survival.
So, all of this uncertainty has
me hanging on by a thread.
After the bus was late there was
still the issue of getting dressed, getting the baby ready and leaving.
However, we had half the time to do it all and we felt the pressure. The baby
wanted to sit in his chair and eat breakfast while watching "
Thomas and
Friends" or "
Chuggington" like he does every other day. My
answer, "Sorry kid, time to drink that yogurt drink while standing, eat
that chicken salad you're begging for because I was making lunch with it and
get out the damn door! Fortunately, I only thought the damn part.
However, given his reaction, I think it was assumed because he cried, loudly.
I don't blame him. Nobody likes
to have their schedule disrupted and to be rushed.
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| The Liberty Bridge in Pittsburgh (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Seeing him upset and hearing him
cry made me feel more than a little guilty. I thought, here I am forcing him to
do something that he doesn't want to do all to satisfy the needs of my work
schedule. As I felt the guilt, I began thinking things like, "Damn bridge!
Damn incompetent city officials who haven't responded well to the traffic problems!
Damn detours! Damn bus! Damn! Damn! Damn!" The intensity of the emotions
that I felt before 8:00 AM this morning rivaled those of a hormonal
teenager!
Then, I paused. First, because I
have had more than a little therapy and coaching I realize that guilt is an
unproductive emotion. Second, a light bulb went off for me. I realized that as I
was rushing about trying my damndest to accommodate the requirements of someone
else's schedule, I was teaching him a valuable lesson. That lesson is: "If
he does not want this chaos to become his reality, he needs to find a way to
determine his own destiny; and, if he remains in Pittsburgh he should study
city planning to figure out alternate traffic patterns when a bridge
closes."
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