Getting Real With Shadra Bruce
I get distracted, and I forget things. Normally, it’s because I’m knee deep in work and totally focused on what I’m doing to the exclusion of everything around me. While it helps me be successful in business, it’s also why I’m not allowed to turn on the stove when I’m home alone (a self-imposed restriction). You should see what happens to eggs when you boil the pan dry. It’s not pretty.
Have you ever forgotten an important date? Been late for an appointment? Forgot to pick up a child from school? I haven’t. Well, actually, I did forget to pick up Parker once, and he walked home. I remembered shortly before he arrived and he found me bawling my eyes out standing on the corner watching him walk down the street to the house, feeling like a complete failure as a mother.
Honestly, I sometimes forget to watch the clock long enough to make sure we make my daughter’s bus on time. We’re sometimes running out the door at the last minute, still brushing her hair as we go. While I’m almost fanatically organized in my business life, and have to be in order to stay in business, I tend to want to forget all that in my personal life. I don’t even wear a watch.
But being organized when you’re a mom is crucial, especially during the school year. In fact, by about the week before school starts, I would be tearing my hair out trying to keep track of everything if it weren’t for my little secret: I’m married to a really anal man who has always kept a calendar and writes down all of our appointments. Often, the only way I make it to the appointments I have is because he’s written it down, and I tend to use him as a crutch.
But you know what? That works for us. He keeps track of all the dates, times, and places…and I take care of bank statements, checking accounts, and taxes.
Seems like a fair deal.
