What a week!
On Tuesday, my best friend had to go to the Harrisburg Hospital ER by ambulance. I got a call to meet her there. I stayed by her side during X-rays, IVs, doctor consults, etc., until they decided to admit her. Then I had to help her out with logistics of arranging care for her foster kids, packing their bags, packing a bag for her and going back to the hospital. It was an emotionally exhausting day, but I was glad I was able to be there when she needed me.
On Thursday, my son came home from preschool with a worsening cold and his breathing sounded odd. He took a nap at home, which he never does, went to bed almost at his normal time and woke up in the morning with his breathing sounding worse, a bad cough, and very lethargic. I made a doctor appointment and took him in. Long story short, he has pneumonia-either walking or vial- neither of which are “the really bad kind,” which I guess is bacterial. So he obviously spent the day with me. Fortunately, none of my clients had strict deadlines either day I missed, and the ones that had expected to hear from me and didn’t, were very understanding.
How many other jobs would I just be able to drop everything to be with a scared friend at the hospital? Or take a second day off that week for a sick child. Yes, it’s inconvenient when a miss a whole day or two at work, but it’s still much less stressful than if I was working for someone else.
Flexibility….it’s a wonderful thing.
One of the articles I’ve written that gets the most requests for reprints is my 6 Tips for Balancing Entrepreneurship and Family. Tip #1 about childcare is frequently on my mind now. When my kids were little, I could not seem to get any work done when they were around. Now that they’re a few months away from turning 5 and 7, they don’t need my constant supervision and attention. The play together a lot, and usually get along very well. This year, with one in first grade and one in preschool, my childcare expenses are less–until we hit the summertime. So I’m trying to decide how much time I really need to get my work done while not paying an arm and a leg for them to go somewhere while I’m working.
When they have been home with me, I try to suggest activities to keep their brain going and change things up a little. This creates for a frequently interrupted workday, and working in spurts from 8 a.m. to 10 at night. Right now I’m considering sending them to my neighborhood babysitter two days a week in the summer so I have at least 2 days to totally concentrate on work. When I need to write or edit something intense, I need total concentration.
I know there are other VAs who read this blog. How do you guys meet your children’s needs, not pay an arm and a leg, and get all your work done without going crazy??
Yeah, I know, it’s a crude expression, but I got your attention, didn’t I?
The other day, I wrote and submitted a press release for one of my clients. It was an existing human-interest type story he had a friend write about him for his use. I re-purposed into a press release by making some strategic edits, adding an attention-getting headline and tying his story into the local area and the time of year. Today, as the media contact, I got a call that the Harrisburg Patriot-News wants to interview him. He has already connected with the writer and everything looks good–he should get some publicity about him and his product he’s been hoping for.
I realize I may be overly excited, but I can’t help it. I love helping my clients achieve even the smaller goals, and hearing how I made someone’s day. Plus, I’m having lots of fun honing the craft of writing press releases. Tune in next week to see the one I’m writing for my own business! It should make you smile.
My older son came home from first grade yesterday and was not a happy camper. In his class, there is a discipline system of “warning, 5 minutes, 10 minutes”. What are the minutes for? Those are the minutes that are deducted from the kid’s recess time where they have to stay in the classroom when the other kids are out playing. Umm, yeah, this is the same school that sends notices home if your child has a certain BMI and is “at risk” of becoming overweight. Seems counterintuitive, doesn’t it? Sorry, I digress.
Anyway, my son had to move his clip to “warning” because his handwriting was too sloppy. He’s left-handed, has 2 parents with really bad handwriting and has some fine motor skill issues (this from his teacher’s mouth). So he gets a warning for his sloppy handwriting. We ran out to The Learning Source last night and got some pencil grips and a handwriting practice book. He is overlapping his thumb over his pointer finger, which is causing some of the control problems. And I addressed this “situation” with his teacher, who admits she might have been to hard on him but she’s trying to get the kids to write more neatly. I want my son to succeed and school and in life, but in a few years he’s going to be typing everything anyway, so I don’t think messy handwriting is the end of the world.
The second thing that he got back was a paper he needed to re-do with a note on the top “write more interesting sentences”. He was writing ones like, “I love ice cream.” “I like soccer.” “Boats sail a lot.” So together we talked about what would make more interesting sentences, and came up with ideas: What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Do you like eating it in a cone or dish? Is it sticky? or Where do boats sail? Have you been on a boat? What did you do on it? Remember when your brother fell asleep in the cabin of a boat?
Even though this was an exercise to help a 6-year old, it’s something we all need to remember. What can you write so your sentences come alive? How can you paint a visual picture? How can you add more detail? How can you make the reader feel like she was with you on the boat? What did the salt air smell like? How big was that fish you saw in the water. People don’t think in words, they think in pictures. Don’t forget that.
Well, I’m off to make a capuccino. Not just any capuccino, but a homemade one–with Starbucks Italian coffee beans, (freshly ground) with hazelnut syrup, and topped with frothy 1% milk. Yummm.
Sometimes it boils down to your attitude. Read more here.
“A man’s doubts and fears are his worst enemies.” - William Wrigley, Jr.
To your success,
Lauren