So today when I arrived home after picking the kids up from school I knew I had to make just one quick phone call. Sounds easy right? Not so much!
OK, let me back up for a second. We own a photography business and we decided to downsize our expenses (like just about everyone else in America) and give up our studio about 3 months ago. Now we officially work from home.
Needless to say it was a tough transition, made even more difficult during the summer months when my two little ones were home! Now, they are back to school (or just about in Gabs case, that’s a whole other rant for another day -- why can’t schools in the same school district coordinate vacations?) I pick the kids up from school and am usually home by 3:30. I try and stay gone as long as possible so Keith can actually get some work done before the hurricanes blow through the door. Because once that happens, it is just about impossible to get any serious work done, and definitely impossible to make a quiet phone call. The home office is just off the kitchen and the girls have a radar on me when I cross the threshold to that office. The minute my butt is about to touch my seat, one of them is standing in the doorway.
They used to ask for things like office supplies or to print some clip art or some random kid request. Now that they have been read the riot act enough times, they come to the open office door and just say “I want a hug.” They try to be cute. But I can see through the cute act, they just want me to be by their side -- all the time!
Today, I needed to make a phone call. Just one tiny, short little phone call. The client wanted to book a portrait session for a certain day, easy! All I needed was a few minutes by myself. How hard could that be? Keith sat with the kids in the family room, basically tying them to the couch so they couldn’t penetrate the office door. Oh, but I forgot about the dog! The 10-year-old Jack Russell Terrier that never leaves the couch all day long. Just as I’m about to leave a message, I hear the loud, unmistakable squeak, squeak, squeak of a dog’s chew toy. So now the woman I left the message for (so glad she didn’t answer) hopefully has a sense of humor, or is a dog lover, or mistakes the sound for another random sound -- I don’t know, some professional office sound that I’m unaware of.
2 comments so far...
Anyway, just wanted to say I enjoyed article. Good luck with your own juggling act!
Flag as inappropriate Posted by Jen Klein on 7th July 2011
Flag as inappropriate Posted by Sharon Fitzgerald on 3rd November 2010