He must have known me better than myself, because I get panic attacks in big crowds, I hate to fly, I am a germ-a-phobic, so riding in taxi's would not work, I get dizzy from high heights and afraid, and I have actually stopped people from entering the elevator while in them when I think we are too full and too crowded. So I guess the corporate world was not my calling.
The segway into this is because every morning I wake with routine (as all of you) I am the first one up, always a good half hour before the rest of the house. Wait, I must be corrected, the cat is the first one up and he is on a routine. EVERY morning at about 4:30 - 5ish no kidding that "meow" comes from the stairway. I hear it. Of course I do, because once we become moms we hear every sound from the moment we give birth and never fully sleep again until the kids are grown and gone. Even then, there are sleepless night. But that is another story, beings that we have a 21 year old. Back to the cat.....
I turn over and convince myself he will stop and be quiet as I sternly tell him to from our bedroom, only realizing that he is not the dog and well we all know that cats pretty much have minds of their own. So I let him out with food in hand, hurrying back to the bed knowing I have another hour and a half to get some shutty.
Then life happens, and no matter what routine we are on daily, it only takes a small bump to start the ball falling. So the coffee is started, the news is on and I am checking emails, and doing my daily "Good Morning" to the Fitnessmomwinecountry family and my challenge groups. Those 30 mins of me time go quickly, as I hear the first alarm in one of the kid's rooms, then the second. I can normally tell what mood they will be in once downstairs by the sounding of the alarm clocks. This is from months of study.
Why, how? Easy, when the alarms go off quickly and I hear Noah head to the bathroom for his shower, I know we are in for a "happy" morning. Faith will come down the stairs with the dog in her arms to let him out. An "un-happy" morning, the alarms start of with the beep, beep, but they will keep going, then faster, and faster. I stand in the kitchen right below the bedrooms and take the biggest, deepest sigh and breath I can. It's going to be "go time". Noah finally hits the alarm and the normal walk to the shower turns to the loud chug from above. I can just see the grumpies on him and I am not even up there. Faith, she heads down the stairs minus the dog with the dark circles under her eyes that she has inherited from me (poor girl) and just plops herself into the chair at the kitchen table.
Anyway, what seems to be a very long morning is only about an hour or less even. The breakfast is made, because I am determined to feed my kids a breakfast EVERY morning and lunches are packed, no school bought lunches for them. Things run rather smoothly I must say because keeping a routine every morning has its positives. The backpacks are always packed with the homework done and put away in place (however both kids are determined to re-check each morning just to make sure) and these are placed by the kitchen basket every night. This makes it easy to put the lunches into and go out the door, the shoes are right by the door inside the garage on the shelves so easy to grab and put on.
Basically, our mornings are like running a business. So maybe I am living my own "corporate" world right in my house. I am the CEO, along with my partner the hubby. I have my fast pace at times, but am able to control the down-time and up-swing. Okay so I am not dressing in office attire or hoping on planes to travel to new cities or business meetings. But those fund-raisers I used to do were my meetings, the PTO was my board room. Now my home is my office, my attire is workout clothing (with jeans day optional). I call my own hours, I don't ride in taxi's but I drive a Suburban and feel like one when it is full of kids. I do travel to far away places when doing school projects with the kids while studying about somewhere far off. Or take the family holiday somewhere fun.
I send my loyal staff (only they are my kids and hubby) off into the world each and every day to learn new things, to work well with others, and to come back to me at the end of the day to "report" their updates and new findings.
That is when I hear it. Exactly, I hear nothing....nothing at all. Just the quiet of the house. Sometimes the sounds of birds outside or the hum of the dishwasher running or the refrigerator/freezer making new ice. The sound of the sprinklers outdoors when watering the lawn. But it is pure silence. It is at that moment EVERY day that I am so grateful and thankful to God and our own family unit that I could never ever imagine NOT being a mom and wife. This is my "corporate" world, and it will continue to flourish and grow and become successful.
God Bless
Lynda xoxoxo
