A Cherry!

My fourth grade daughter was sitting in the back of the car reading a “friends book” and the themes were “what colors are your friends” and what “fruit or vegetable is your best friend?” All of a sudden she looked up and said “Mommy you are a cherry because you are always on top of things!” My immediate response was “really, thank you I am so happy to hear that!” and I was actually truly happy in some way because I sometimes feel the opposite.

With a busy schedule things can easily slip through the cracks and a feeling of guilt can become forever bothersome, like a little tweak in the eye throughout the day or night, when I forget to remind my young preschooler about his “show and tell” that day or never getting around to letting one of my hard working employees know that they are doing a fantastic job working late so many days in a row. Observing the business that started when I was breastfeeding the same fourth grader that pronounced me to be a cherry in the back of the car, my daughter has always seen me with an endless To Do list of what to remember. She has always had a mother who wanted to do more all of the time, multitasking without skipping many beats. A mother who wanted to be there for her kids, but also very motivated by a vision and an idea of a business. I am secretly asking myself in my head “is a cherry also controlling, would it be better to be cool like a cucumber?”…..maybe, I don’t know, but what I have learned is that when building a business while raising a family, you need to stay on top of things the best you can so no one suffers. I chose to be a mother and a business owner and so I strive always to utilize my time efficiently as best as I can to maintain a healthy balance.

By writing down daily schedules from swim classes to school assignments, lunch schedules, pediatricians and dentist appointments, play dates, grocery shopping and fieldtrips..(does it ever end?) We do our best to make the children be on time, have an active lifestyle and the result is hopefully a better functioning family. By writing down deadlines at work and keeping a calendar to organize the day, I am able to manage the staff so we can reach our goals together in a more productive and stress free environment. By doing both, I ultimately save time - which means more time to myself and my family and hey…. a cherry is also sweeter than a cucumber, right?!