The (Struggle) Juggle of it all

Last weekend two of my very best friends came to LA to visit. We had so much fun catching up, mostly sharing stories about our day-to-day lives and what it’s like raising kids in different parts of the country. All three of us have small children, ranging in age from 2 – 8. We are self-proclaimed “Stay at home moms” and all three of us are starting to dip our toes into working “outside of the home” again. And let me tell you, there is no mistaking – this is a serious juggle. At some point in the weekend, we each talked about how hard it is to maintain all of the needs of our kids and our homes, while creating something meaningful in our chosen professional and creative endeavors. It just so happens that we are all pretty much Type A (though I maintain that since I’ve had kids I’m more Type B+). We all worked hard in college and dreamed about big careers. And now, as an extension of that – we love to throw our kids spectacular birthday parties, we love to volunteer at their schools, go on fieldtrips, shop for birthday presents, write thank you notes, plan play dates and summer camp, and talk to our own moms more than once a week, all while making sure there’s healthy food in the fridge and clean close in the drawers. And ALL of that can be hard when you have deadlines.

It struck me that we’ve all been pretty lucky to choose new paths that allow us the flexibility to take care of our families. That is huge and not a lot of moms have that. For me, I can print from home now. Just last week I printed a job in my pajamas! No joke – it had to be done and I started at 9:00 pm after my older son went to bed. This was never my vision when I thought about myself working from home. My girlfriends and I get our work done during preschool and naptimes and sometimes we have to put an extra episode of Daniel Tiger on to finish up that last email. Sometimes we have to order pizza, again, because we didn’t have time to go the market or prep dinner. As Tim Gunn says, we’re “making it work.” For me, it means a lot less down time. I don’t watch as much TV at night or get to the gym as often as I should and I definitely don’t talk to my friends as much as I would like to. My first priority is and will always be the kids and their little lives. But after that, I am so lucky and excited to be learning how to juggle all of my family’s needs with my passion for letterpress. I may be more tired at the end of the day, but I am incredibly fulfilled…and incredibly happy.