One of Those Weeks

Last week was one of those weeks. One of those hectic, long, but seemingly gone in a blink of an eye type of weeks. I took a minute to document what my wife and I juggled over a four-day stretch:

• Our kids’ first cavity filling
• Running basketball practice for ten first graders
• Girl Scouts meeting and cookie drop offs (yes, we are still delivering cookies)
• Doctor checkup
• Much-needed haircuts
• The typical weekly dance class schedule
• Swim lesson
• Book fair
• Two lost teeth
• Impromptu soccer practice (and needing to buy new shin guards beforehand)
• Cars being serviced
• And one live hockey game for Daddy

This was all incremental to my wife’s standard demanding role as a small business owner and my full workload, which included preparing for and facilitating a day-long, in-person workshop for my team. 

The above is staggering and makes my head hurt a bit. How did we pull this off? Somehow we limped through, but none of this is to brag. If you’re reading this, you’ve had one of these weeks also. We've all been there. 

​But this reflection was actually therapeutic for me. As working parents, we should take more moments to pat ourselves on the back for all that we do. It’s not always smooth. In fact, this 96 hours certainly came with lost sleep, sore throats and likely more gray hairs. But take stock of the accomplishments periodically. I'm curious how it makes others feel. For me, it made me simultaneously overwhelmed and proud.

The added novelty of this week was the light at the end of the tunnel: a much needed weekend away with just my wife in Sedona, Arizona was our reward. This was our second attempt at taking this trip. We postponed it from early November after my daughter was sick the previous week, who then got me sick, and then inevitably, you guessed it, my wife eventually fell ill.

I can tell you all about how awesome Sedona is. I can also preach to you about the importance of time with just your spouse, sans kids. This is well documented, and you don’t need to hear this from me. I’m ashamed to admit this was the first time we got away just the two of us in over two years. But clearly all parents are juggling a lot, so it's not always easy to get away. I'm also incredibly thankful for the army of family members that juggled and cared for my kids to make this all possible - especially after getting through an eventful week.

In the wise words of The Dadass Matt Lofy himself, stay strong. Do whatever you can to keep your head above water for the kids, but enjoy the important, well-earned, few and far between downtimes with your spouse.

-Steve Michalovich, founder, CBUS Dads