As I'm working towards my final deadlines for publishing my book, I receive a message from my daughter.
Thinking of transferring colleges. Would you tour with me?
Oh, what I wouldn't give to have small issues once more.
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"Oh, I can't wait until my daughter starts school. Then I'll have all the time in the world to work on my business."
It was hard not to laugh.
This mom had the best intentions. And she loved her preschooler dearly.
But oh, the things we make ourselves believe when we want something that we don't already have.
I told myself all of that too.
As a corporate employee who traveled a great deal of the time, I couldn't wait to quit and work in my own company. I would have a lot more flexibility to do the things I wanted to do.
As a mom of a preschooler, I couldn't wait for her school days to move from half day to full. Three more hours a day would be plenty of time to get everything accomplished.
As a mom of a middle schooler, I figured I would have a lot more free time. She's more independent, wants to do things on her own.
As a mom of a high schooler, I knew she would begin pulling away to get ready to live life on her own. She drove herself; she wouldn't need me in quite the same way.
Even now as a mom of a college student, I figured I would be well in the throes of living life as an empty nester, spending every hour of the day on my terms.
Guess what? It's never so.
At every age, they need you in slightly different ways. "Emergencies" get bigger, more complicated, and take more of your time.
An emergency to a 10-year-old may be she forgot her lunch. Problem solved in just a few moments.
An emergency to a college student might be she forgot a deadline, and she may no longer be eligible to graduate on time. The problem may take a week or more to solve with both of you calling and pleading your case over and over again.
I've also learned that it won't stop there. Once a mom, always a mom. And it will always impact every part of my life, business and personal.
She'll need me when she gets her first job after college. She'll need me if she moves far away. She'll need me if she ever decides to get married and start a family of her own.
And she'll need me to if one day she decides to go into business for herself.
Being a mompreneur means juggling and multitasking and organizing every last moment of the day. And while it's easy to look forward to the day when life changes in some big way, I've learned that it isn't about what the next phase will bring. Instead, it's about how you approach each phase.
There will always be more to do than there is time in the day. But if you always put the most important thing first, you'll accomplish some of the best things in life.
So I'll get the revisions to my final edited draft out tonight. Because right now I have another college to tour.