We have all at some point used that phrase “it’s always something.”   Indeed, it is rare to have a smooth, uneventful day.  We have hopes of sailing through our days — waking up, getting our kids off to childcare or school with no issues, having a productive work day, fitting in some sort of exercise, having a prompt yet healthy home-cooked meal, then spending the rest of the evening with family or friends, and getting to bed at a decent hour for a full nights sleep.

Sounds lovely.  And yet that simple schedule rarely happens.  Because…. “it’s always something”:

• the babysitter cancels
• your child gets sick
• the car has to go into the shop — for the 5th time in a month
• your computer crashes
• a loved one has to go into the hospital or rehab center, and you are their main point of contact
• the dog or cat has to go to the vet
• something in the house breaks
• your spouse suddenly has to go out of town
• you’ve been called in last minute to substitute for a volunteer activity

and the list goes on…you get the idea.

We Real Women must take it all in stride. We become master jugglers.  We make sudden plans on the fly, changing schedules, setting up back-up child care, fitting in phone calls between meetings…. we keep all the balls in the air, careful to make sure nothing hits the floor.

I am lucky and I have an employer who is understanding and flexible so I can make some last minute changes to my schedule, or work from home for a few hours if necessary. But there are a lot of other Real Women out there who don’t have that option. If they don’t work, they don’t get paid…or they don’t have easy transportation at their disposal…or any number of challenges.  Yet somehow we all pull through.  At times with my posts, I have compared our lives to those of the rich and famous.  And I started wondering today what they do in any of these situations. Surely they run into them as well…after all, they are human. Do they have staff to handle inconveniences?  Certainly they don’t have to worry about missing a day of work… but do all of these little “things” cause them stress as well?

In the end, we work it all out, we keep all those balls in the air, and we hope tomorrow will be a bit smoother.  And you know what?  There are many folks out there with far bigger issues that they deal with every day. If these inconveniences are the worst of my problems, I am a lucky soul.  So if it really is “always something”, then good.  That just means I have a full life, and am blessed to be able to handle whatever comes my way.

Bring it on.  My juggling arms are ready.