I already did a midweek miscellany post, but here we go again. I was working on a post on managing the two-travel-job couple. But it wound up being so long — like well over 2000 words — that I’m wondering if I should write something longer about this topic. Maybe I will! There really is no manual for this sort of thing because, as noted in some of the comments on the SAHD post, the assumption is always that one party must scale back, or craziness ensues. Typically, that person is mom. But in my family this week, I was in Toronto and Utah, my husband was in London, and yet we both made it to a kindergarten play today, we were both at family dinner on Monday, etc. Life continues and isn’t all that crazy.
Except for my trips to the post office to mail off advanced copies of Off the Clock. Those are crazy in the sense of being humorous. I really love my local post office. The two people who work there are lovely and know everyone in town. I came in with 25 priority mail envelopes (which was only round one!) stuffed into multiple tote bags, and they started ringing them up simultaneously, with one of them suspending the order as other people came in, so no patrons had to wait more than about 3 minutes.
The kindergarten play was really cute. My two older boys had this same teacher as well, and every year she has her charges put on a little musical. (Character Matters was this year’s offering). My daughter was Cinderella and sang a solo about being angry at her step-sisters and she totally rocked it. She did not look nervous at all in front of a full auditorium, and she knew her words perfectly. I was so proud.
More things to celebrate: the 8-year-old moved up a level on the swim team. The 3-year-old seems fully potty trained. He woke me up at 4 a.m. this morning because he said he had to pee, so we need to work on some self-sufficiency there but hey. And the 10-year-old is almost 11! He was due on May 10 lo these many years ago, and yet I stayed pregnant, through what I assumed would be my first Mother’s Day weekend. Good times.
This week I’ve also been mailing off thank you notes to people who pre-ordered Off the Clock and gave me their mailing addresses. I ran out of thank you notes again! This is a good problem to have. I have more on order. Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Photo: Cart of copies of 168 Hours at a speech I gave this week. I’ve been thinking back to launching that book 8 years ago this month. Writing books really is about playing a long game.
I would LOVE more insight into how other two-big-job couples juggle parenting, work, travel and life! We don’t have a nanny, just full-time daycare so we do tend to have to develop more complicated coverage plans when one or both are traveling. I too find most people have one party that scales back their careers, so it’s always nice to know that is not always the case and that the craziness can be lessened by good planning and communication.
@Erin – I imagine that pulling off two people traveling with just daycare would be difficult, mostly because of the complications involved in back-up plans and the like. That’s one reason I think most people in this situation do wind up hiring a nanny (though maybe keeping PT daycare, or even FT daycare, to make sure the nanny has reasonable hours. A 40-hour job plus 30 in daycare covers 70 if you need that some week).
Hi Laura–yes a nanny is a great solution. We are fortunate to have some great coverage outside of daycare with a babysitter that can shuttle our little guy and active grandparents nearby also willing to help. This coverage is flexible with our ever-changing schedules, it just requires a little more planning and communication. . Though one could also argue that it is inconsistent and potentially unreliable, it has worked out great for us.
Laura, you should get a Stamps.com account! I had a year-long period where I had to mail frequently and it was absolutely worth it. I think it was $15/mo with a free scale and postage seemed discounted. Print postage from home is the best part!