You're Gonna Make It After All

This morning, my floor was evacuated and I got to work from home for the rest of the day. There's a story but it involves petroleum-based leak sealant that was NOT supposed to be petroleum-based, so just know that my co-workers and I nearly passed out from the fumes before protesting and heading out for the day along with the sassy accounting staff across the hall.

So there I was at 11:30 on a Monday, sitting at my computer overlooking my backyard while a fresh cup of coffee brewed only a few feet away. Yesterday my friend Tristan and I were discussing how in the future, more flexible hours might be the key to HAVING IT ALL, the impossibility of which I detailed here earlier this month. This was my big chance to see if working from home was as amazing as it sounded.

First, I put on my favorite pair of pants- the beauty of which I once detailed here, in my second ever blog post. If that isn't a sell-in, then just picture them being the sweatpant equivalent of Jncos- as wide-legged as they are long. Long story short, I was mad comfortable, looking ridiculous, and ready to kick some marketing ass.

For lunch I grilled myself a piece of salmon and fixed up a fancy salad that I'd never take the time to make at work. I researched while I ate, getting twice as much done without the constant interruption of delivery people, the main phone line ringing, and the distracting buzzing of co-workers coming in and out of meetings. I sorted my e-mails until they were back down to an acceptable level, then finished up my research and sent it off.

I listened LOUDLY to music rather than straining to hear it at the lowest decibel my computer allows.

Then, because I hadn't taken much time to make my lunch at all, I casually flipped on ExerciseTV and 'took' a 20-minute Pilates class. I emerged refreshed, and ready to coordinate the living hell out of some focus groups. So I did. By the time I was done it was 4:45 and I allowed that last 15 minutes to be all the time I'd saved not answering inane solicitors' rude demands to talk to the owner of the company.

I couldn't do it everyday, because I need human interaction. But there was something about today that made me think that freelancing or telecommuting could be part of the key to having it all:

On this same topic, I read a fascinating article today on the importance of having a mother on the Federal Supreme Court. The journalist brings up the points you might expect re: pro-choice ideology, but also a few relevant ideas about how the lack of mothers in Cabinet positions and the SCOTUS could be damaging the dreams of young US women. It is especially interesting to juxtapose this idea with one posed last week in the NYT regarding the 3 most powerful 'mothers of five' in the US- Pelosi, Palin, and Bachmann. Interesting, that motherhood can be the backbone of one political leader's persona, whereas another female politico's merit is their lack of a personal life.

I don't quite know what to think of all of these mothers-in-politics discussions, probably because I'm nowhere near becoming a mother. What I do know is that there is a strong undercurrent ripping through my generation- and it is the fear of not being able to find a balance. The fear that our ideal career path and our ideal personal life are mutually exclusive. Some political women combat that idea, and others reinforce it. Until we test it ourselves, I guess we won't know where we stand.

What do I know? Wherever life brings me, I'm bringing my lounge pants with me. I'd be nowhere without them.