I write on this blog
so less often than I used to for so many years but I am so glad at least every
few weeks I do a blog or two for the sole purpose of remembering what was going
on in our lives in those moments .
One day related to my
career and business I will go back to my more philosophical blogs about life
and parenting and work life integration etc but for now this blog has morphed
into mostly recording keeping and I am fine with that for now
Overriding everyone
and everything since october has been my work . Huge amounts of it and
constantly steady . Massive last minute contracts and deadlines and new
adventures . It has always been plentiful but the last few months are a record
setter I think for me . It has left me with very little else besides work and
this is the first time in my life that I have chosen that . Now - I did take a
10 day adventure kayaking and also a two week vacation on the beach amongst
those months so in eality I am just making up those hours and weeks. It's just
a different way of working to be an entrepreneur and a very different way of
experiencing time .
I have loved it in
many ways and I have finally found my true passion in work and am heading more
and more on the direction of making it more and more part of my work . I have
always had careers I adore and excel at . Now it's even more - and I have
passion . One day soon not to far off this will be my life and my heart and
soul I would estimate .
Yet I hate when work
robs me of those precious moments of being present . I hate when it makes me
get up at the crack of dawn when I could cuddle instead with my hubby . And I
especially hate wasting any moment of any weekend on work . I had to break my
rule and do that a couple of times and I resented it .
I see life as a
series of sprints and certainly not a marathon . Sprint . Recover . Sprint .
Recover .
Been sprinting a lot
lately !
And my next book ? I
am halfway through now . I can't wait for this next wave of my life
The kids ? The are
amazing . Like truly amazing . And we share overall such a happy life together
. The boys are so so so committed to their studies and lives and almost to the
point of compulsively ! Beauty has such a crazy busy schedule with hip hop
competition and solo lyrical contemporary
competition and being a ski instructor for pre competition group
and earning her
drivers licence that she leads a life of her own . And has also managed to
increase her average by 10 percent last semester and that is huge !!!!!
Each of the kids has
a holiday job they have started since exams over and beauty who is not finished
school for another week is employee
all winter at the
ski hill and daily for the holidays . I feel so proud of them
And we have a blast
together . In the week we " co exist" and get together for some
dinners but on the weekends we always make it a priority to spend some quality
time together . We spend way more of that time with beauty now the three of us
and we cherish it at that cottage
I take the kids out
for spontaneous lunches and we have laughter and love
For sure some
conflict here and there and they can annoy me but I can't say that I dons it
that hard having older kids . It mostly just a pleasure
People ask me all the
time " doesn't living with a 16, 18 and 20 yr old drive you bananas ?!!
"
Sometimes yes .
Mostly no
In discussions with
other parents I think what my differentiates
me is that I
largely just let them coexist with us at this age . I don't have super extenous
demands or expectations . We raised them well and trust them . They make all
kinds of decisions I may not make myself necessarily and other ones I truly
admire but I am there to coach them vs judge then
They barely ask me if
a friend comes to dinner as they know they are welcome . They manage their
lives with some boundaries and rules but by this age very few and far between .
They had so many rules as younger kids that they know them by heart and respect
a good part of them
Beauty needs more of
course at 16 but she is just generally respectful of our
house rules
although can super disrespectful
of humans ( us ! )
many times which is always a work in progress
And I am not a big
judge of how our kids live their lives . Neither is Hibby . We both admire and
love and encourage their diversity and choices ( most of the time anyways ) and
just play devils advocate and challenge them to think differently when we don't
( most of the time )
And every once in
awhile totally lose it on them and also make them sit down for big talks as we
talk some sense into them ! Or try to anyways !
In speaking with a
colleague the other day with kids same age who live at home and do drive her
bananas we realized that her values and beliefs about how her kids should
be at this age are
much stronger than mine . ( hers are 20 and 18 ) She has a
certain Vision of how it should be right now and it isn't that way . And she
really cares about the tidiness of her home and that causes massive fights .
And she doesn't like when they roll their eyes or back talk or say what she
says is stupid and swears . All basket c for me at this age . I ignore it and
move on .
Her baskets and mine
are different ( as they should be ) . In the taxi the other day we compared
baskets and it was fun ( in case you are wondering baskets is what I am know
for largely on my career in managing priorities )
So basically at this
stage of my life I choose not to be driven bananas where believe me it was at
the top of my list for many many years . I was a control freak and I am so much
less now in some ways anyways and one of those areas happens to me my kids
I think each one of
them is brilliant , wonderful , kind and smarty and amazing .
But and big but they
are all going to school and not into drugs . If either of those were different
may be a whole different ballgame !!
Man I have tried to
be like this forever . Finally I have arrived
And hubby ? We are in
a good place and can't wait to spend time on holidays together as we have sadly
been only co existing a lot too lately
Due to my workload he
has Taken on a lot more on the Homefront lately ( another post ) and this is a
Weird shift for us
We have a lot to
figure out about home and work and we are both ready for the challenge of it
all . Things are changing and sometimes too quickly . We are happy on the
holidays to have time to figure it all out .
We had committed to
21 yrs ago changing financial positions in our career when I was 45
as we have 12 yrs difference in age and that time arrived a year ago and we are
sticking to the plan . This is a big adjustment for me and I have to find a way
to fully integrate it into my life and make it successful and work for us
I am so excited
mostly though
A few things not to
forget :
My mom is still so
unwell - but her coping skills getting better and better by the day which is
all I can hope for
Bear is on accutane
10 weeks now and has been so damn hard for him . Little improvement but we all
have high hopes . Although yesterday I saw a difference . Cross fingers keeps
going !
Planterra and mr
boxer
Great hip hop show by
beauty
Vaness and Carroll at
the cottage and the mattress in the basement ( need I say
more ? )
After pretty much
working for 19 days straight about 16 hrs a day ( with maybe two days off for
weekend days in there ) I decided I needed a day off
Me and two bffs
headed to Trent late in a Thursday night ( got here 11:40pm ) and then spent
the whole next day in pyjamas and sitting by fire chatting and catching up . We
ventured outside to jacuzzi in the snow which was a little tad chilly for SK
given that she had to keep her new boobs out of water ! We wrapped a blanket
around her shoulders but she was freezing and headed in earlier while CW and I
keep chatting
I love my girl
getaways at Trent . Often I do with one of my besties
, often two ,
sometimes a work colleague as a work offsite , sometimes with my mom . It’s
just always so damn special and fun
After they left I had
4 hrs to myself and that has been so rare for me that I didn’t know what to do
with myself ! I quickly figured it out and chatted on phone with my mom and
then plopped on couch to watch back to back episodes of switched at birth .
Beauty and Hubby arrived past midnight ( yes we are crazy but we always have
let our kids have their plans on Friday nights and we leave late . Sometimes we
arrive at 1am ! )
It’s beginning to
look like Christmas as there is plenty of snow , presents and plans have been
bought and made and mostly I am back to normal in
final week of work
but it is a normal busy one and not a crazy one . Yahoo!
And also another
December event is that I hosted an office party at our shared office and was so
beautiful . The three main collègues and their partners that I subcontact work
to . Also one of their moms who also did work for me and my mom and our family
.
Almost didn’t make it
myself as the how
et as big snowstorm and was downtown Late for the big program I held for the
President and his team of vps at one of my Pharma clients . Got there just in
time and was very lucky to have had hubby and chase
set all up for me .
All looked so pretty and festive
We ordered in a big
Lebanese feast ( yummy and easy ! ) and had cupcakes for dessert . Wine and
drinks and everyone had such a good time . I have little speeches of
appreciation for all . I also had a great forum to publicly recognize my mom as
I have always wanted to do that . Her life is daily so hard and i wanted to
express how much I admire her . Of course we all cried !!
Chase got up and said
some words about me and my work which was adorable . He talked about how he
thought I was the coolest mom in the world and wanting to take over my company
one day . He talked about how it was having a dual career family and of what he
admired in me . He talked about how none of his friends for his whole life “
ever said I was a bitch “ and that it was so rare for male friends to think the
moms are cool and want them around and how I treated them all like my best
guests with no invitations needed . I was so in shock and happy
And then Bear ... so
sweet again about my career and how he has learned so much from me and how I
have helped him with jobs and resumes to the point that now he needs no help
and gets stuff all on his own . How I have influenced him and his life and
decisions and how it has been for him with a mom who “ has the busiest career
of anyone he knows “ Felt amazing to feel that validation
and appreciation
And then Beauty with
her simple and heartfelt “ I love you “ with a hug . I will take that anyday !
Felt like an amazing
way to end 2017 with my two worlds of home and life colliding into a beautiful
space . I am so happy that I have such an amazing team and feel so grateful to
have built this all from scratch . I end 2017 from a professional standpoint of
deep pride and satisfaction
This blog is totally
disjointed but since it’s a record of my life now I truly don’t care lol !
Kids all were here at
cottage Saturday Night and Sunday and man was it loud ! Has been 8 weeks only
beauty ( and a couple of them beauty and bear or beauty and chase ) but all of
them together ? Loud !!! And fun !!
We made a super nice
dinner and lay all by the fire after laughing and teasing and the boys as
always debating and Wrestling ( and yes they are going to be 18 and 20 ! ) we
watched stranger things until 2am with a few of us nodding off of course but
was so cool to get caught up on our family show . We had sugar pie at midnight
too
Today big yummy lunch
and everyone got up late and then skating this afternoon and family jacuzzi and
card game and moules and frites for dinner . Packing it all in since holidays
only have them all up here max 2 days if lucky with all their jobs
Tonight chase has 3
new friends coming up for two days and is kicking us out as of 9pm ! (this was all written Sunday)
