The Call I've Been Waiting For

By Maria Bailey

I received the phone call any business owner or person for that matter longs for this week. No, it wasn't the lottery department calling to tell me that I'd won a million dollars. It was a call from the producers of ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.

Let me take a minute to paint the scene for you. It's about 4:30 p.m. on a Monday afternoon. Those two details tell you right away that I wasn't flipping through a magazine. On the contrary, I was frantically preparing a presentation I need to take with me on a trip to the West Coast the next morning knowing that I had to be home within 90 minutes to watch three of my children so my husband could take one to basketball practice. In that 90 minutes, my to do list included packing my briefcase with work for the long plane ride, sending the next three chapters of my book to my publisher, assigning tasks to my co-workers to complete while I was away and making a pediatrician's appointment for my two year old. If I just kept moving, I could probably only be five minutes late getting home which is tolerable to my husband. From the car, I would order pizza and return the call to my daughter's homeroom mother who I'm sure is calling to see if I can bake cookies for some Valentine's Day activity. Is this all hitting home yet for you? It's a typical day for a working mother.

The phone rings and against my better judgement I punch the "speakerphone" button. A woman on the other line asks for me in an uncertain tone. Great a sales person I think, until three little letters get my attention -- ABC. Of course, the world immediately stops and I pick up the receiver. She politely explains that they are doing a story on working mothers who are balancing career and family and came upon BlueSuitMom. The conversation leads into a discussion on how we, bluesuitmoms, do it. It's a subject I feel passionate about so I launched into the many statistics and issues of balancing work and family. Unfortunately, they were not able to use me in the story because of deadlines and logistical issues. Nonetheless, the experience was positive.

I felt a sincere interest from both women on the phone about the challenges of working mothers and how they have changed generation to generation. For almost a year, I've worked fulltime to bring attention to the amazing feats working mothers conquer each day and although I was not able to be in the limelight this time, I was happy that ABC had recognized the issue enough to highlight it. I encourage everyone to tune in Friday night, February 9th to see the segment on World News Tonight.

But on another note, one question the producer asked lingered in my head as I went home to prepare my family for my business trip. She asked, What has suffered in my quest to balance work and family?" My immediate response was, "taking time for myself." Later as I prepared 8 school lunches for the two days I'd be away, I realized that it was the wrong answer. I do take time for myself; it's just not getting a weekly manicure or going to the movies with my single girlfriends anymore. These are all things that other people constitute as "time to yourself." My time I realized is a direct reflection of how I elect to spend it. I elect to work. I have a career and that's what I do for myself. I love work and it's what I enjoy doing. Turns out I spend a lot of time on me. I elect to have a job, I choose to spend time writing a book at night and I select to build tree forts with my children on Saturdays instead of playing tennis or antiquing like I once did. So ABC, if you're still coming to BlueSuitMom, to find our how we all do it, I change my answer. Nothing seems to have suffered too much. My husband, children and I all seem to be happy and fulfilled and I am spending lots of time on myself.

Have a great week everyone and thank you ABC for caring about working mothers!

Share your thoughts on our message board or email Maria.

Also see:
• Week Twenty-Three -- The call I've been waiting for
• Week Twenty-Two -- Where did the weekend go?
• Week Twenty-One -- Business trip challenges
• Week Twenty -- Girl Scout cookie time
• Week Nineteen -- Thoughts on Motherhood
• Week Eighteen -- No more Resolutions
• Week Seventeen -- Holiday Letter
• Week Sixteen -- Holiday Traditions
• Week Fifteen -- Who's bed is it anyway?
• Week Fourteen -- Holding a child's hand
• Week Thirteen -- Attending a bris
• Week Twelve -- A lesson from TV
• Week Eleven -- I did it!
• More diary entries

Maria Bailey is the CEO and founder of BlueSuitMom.com and a mother of four children under the age of seven.