Easter Reminded Me of the Miracles That Are My Children

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Greetings from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania! Things have been busy. I am still a working mom of three, working full time who is trying to make a difference. I do a lot of things and try to be present so that I can learn from them. I share them on this blog so that we can learn together. Below are some thoughts, hacks, and/or lessons that I have learned from navigating my world. Below is a tale of my road to becoming the mother of three. It was a road filled with joys and disappointments. However, I wouldn't giving nothing for my journey now. Here's to embracing every step of the journey, even the painful ones, and embracing the lessons learned along the way.
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WWMD? ("What Would Michelle Do?”)

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Photo Credit: Wikipedia
As great as she is, Michelle Obama is making me feel a little inadequate. She's like that girl in high school who always looked perfect, never broke a sweat, and always said the right thing. And I am that girl who ran through the hall, arrived to class sweaty, and frequently said embarrassing things.


In her speech Michelle described her love for her husband, her love for her children, and her work/life balance. While I haven’t had any children, I have experienced love. However, I have not achieved this work/life balance thing even with my hiring of a life coach and my desire for a Zen existence. You see, I have a confession to make. My name is Chatón and I hate
traffic.

I particularly hate traffic in the morning. You see, I like to enjoy a leisurely morning. This desire is in direct conflict with most work schedules. Before beginning my commute I work out, have breakfast, clean the kitchen, and sometimes do my laundry. That would be well and good if my day began at 4:00 AM, but it doesn’t. Once I realize that I have to appear at work and do my job in order to get paid, I dash out of the house, hoping to avoid traffic.

Well, “hoping to avoid traffic” in the morning is just silly. After all, the “Morning Rush Hour” has that name for a reason. There are TV news programs, radio shows, and newspaper articles devoted to this topic. As I write this blog entry, it is clear how ludicrous it is for me to waste any energy at all “hoping to avoid traffic”. However, I do it anyway.

Generally this practice puts me in the middle of traffic muttering expletives under my breath. Traffic has a way of ruining your religion like the Devil never could…

The other day was particularly bad. On my way to work I found myself behind a woman on a two lane road who was taking her sweet time. She was truly having a leisurely morning. The Speed Limit was 35 Mi/Hr and she was going about 20 Mi/Hr. She was talking on the phone while smoking enough to fill her entire Chevrolet Cavalier with smoke. Quite frankly, she may have been driving so slowly because she couldn’t see.

As I thought about wailing on my horn, I asked myself, “What would Michelle do”? Admittedly, I didn’t come up with any answers. However, I remembered all of the nice sentiments in her speech. I realized that I decided to enjoy my morning by doing all of that stuff I mentioned above. And this woman decided to enjoy her morning by driving slowly, chatting on the phone, and sucking on a cancer stick. I might not agree with her choices, but this is America. Everybody can do their own thing.

Suddenly, I had an epiphany. I realized that being the brilliant woman that she is, Michelle would try not to be this stressed out again. While I may not master the work/life balance thing anytime soon; and I can't throttle that woman, I can leave my house a few minutes earlier. So that’s what I intend to do.

Thanks Michelle! :-)

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