How Do You Do It?

I was asked this question last Saturday and have been spending more time thinking of a blog post that would provide an answer to that question that seemed to express everything I need to say in order to answer it. But let’s travel back a few days and set the scene for the question…

It’s Saturday, January 12^th. It’s our third basketball doubleheader of the week and it’s getting close to the running on fumes point of the day. We are halfway through our women’s game, so our crew who is coming in to only work for the men’s game is just finished getting in their places and getting set up. As I’m leaving my office to go do a quick walk through with my office mate (the awesome crocheter that I wrote about yesterday), another coworker stops me and says, “If I were you, I couldn’t handle this. How do you do it being the single mom to a one year old?” My instant response was “Lots of coffee and support from my parents.” As I went back to doing the voodoo that we do on gamedays, I started to think that there is so much more to that answer than I could ever say in the brief period of time between that question and running off to the next walkthrough. So, I am now going to answer that question in this blog. I know that not too many people read it because that would mean I would have to tell people that it exists, but in case anyone stumbles upon it, here is the multi-part answer to the loaded question, “how do you do it?”

(1) Lots of coffee. That is said part in jest and part in all seriousness. I used to not drink coffee, but now that I do, I have noticed that I am much more productive. The 5 hour energy shots don’t work well for me, and neither to energy drinks. Good ole coffee with cream is what I need to get me through a long workday and still provide me with energy to keep up with a small child when I get home.

(2) An awesome officemate. I was lucky when I landed this job to find someone that I get along so well with even while sharing small office quarters. She’s the Yoko Ono to my John Lennon without ruining my non-existent music career. Sometimes you are lucky enough to have friends that you get to work with and her support has helped me navigate through the learning curve of a new job with ease.

(3) Awesome prep “family”. I consider everyone that I worked with at my last job family that I got to work with. These guys and gal helped me so much in my career and my personal life and were there for me through some of the roughest patches of self reinvention known to man. I moved to Nashville to start over, and not in a music career. It ended up being the best decision that I have made (even if there were some questionable decisions during that period and my parents were not fully into the idea of me moving there and going through a self reinvention). After leaving a career and a boss who showed me how NOT to manage people, I was blessed to end up in a job working for someone who is now one of my closest friends who showed me how TO manage people. I feel that the skills I learned by watching him have helped make these rough workdays easier because I have workers that I trust and who can do the job without much help from me.

(4) Amazing friends. Where would I be without the amazing friends who have been there to listen to all of the stories and help me navigate through the unexpected pregnancy, the unexpected mommyhood, and just the unexpected in general? Who knows, but I’m so glad that these people have stuck by me and never judged me when I needed advice and never told me how I should think or feel, but let me figure it out on my own.

(5) The best family anyone could ask for. Last, but not least, I could not do it without the best family anyone could ask for. Sure, we have our dysfunctional moments often and are, for the most part, pretty boring, but we work. My grandparents LOVE my daughter and she LOVES them and will ask for them all the time. If they aren’t around, she has to see their picture. My brother, who was never one for children, is wrapped around my daughter’s little finger and is the best uncle anyone could ask for. My parents are my daughter’s second set of parents. They spend more time with her than anyone and if anyone tries to say she isn’t perfect, my mother will probably go into attack mode. She knows that all she has to do is smile and Grammy and Granddad will get her what she wants. They spoil her rotten and me as well. I could not do any of what I do without them.

So to answer the question, “how do you do it?”, I have to give credit to the supporting cast of my life because without any one of them,  I would not be able. God blessed me with awesome people in my life because he knew I needed them. He blessed them with me because he knew they would need lots of comedic relief.