Monday, January 21, 2019

I Will Never Forget Yesterday's Morning Coffee Chat Time


Lisa works outside of the home Monday through Friday. On those mornings, I get up between 3:30 - 4:00. Lisa gets up at 4:15. I make her coffee, a hot breakfast, and I pack her work lunch. While I'm doing that, she takes the kids out and makes their breakfast. Shortly after, the kids get a morning snack. At that point, Lisa gets ready for work. I sit at the kitchen table sipping my first cup of coffee. We get in a little chat time before she heads out the door at 5:30. After Lisa leaves, I begin my work day.

On the weekends, paid holidays, and when Lisa takes vacation days, our routine is a bit different. We're up between 6:30-7:00 in the morning. After Lisa takes the kids out, we sit in the living room and enjoy our morning coffee chat time. The kids get a morning snack and eat breakfast a little bit later.

We both look forward to these mornings.

During our morning coffee chat time, which usually lasts about an hour and a half, we talk about anything and everything.

Yesterday, Lisa began the conversation with something that completely took me by surprise.

"How about I write a blog post for Our Bodacious Dog Mom Life."

I giggled a bit.

"I'm serious."

"Okay."

I took a sip of coffee.

I'm usually spot on with knowing if Lisa is joking or not, but for the life of me this time around, I was stumped.

Lisa doesn't like to read. She also doesn't like to write or type.

In fact, out of the 1,100+ blog columns that I've published on this blog site, I'm fairly certain I can count on one hand how many she's read.

I put my serious face on.

"Okay, if you want to write a blog column, by all means...go for it. I think that would be great."

I still wasn't sure if she was serious or joking.

"What should I write about?"

I took another sip of coffee.

"Well. As the author of Our Bodacious Dog Mom Life, everything that's written is from my standpoint as a Work at Home Dog Mom. I think it would be awesome if you wrote about being a Dog Mom who works outside of the home."

"You don't think that would be boring?"

"Absolutely not."

"As a Dog Mom, I don't do nearly as much as you because I don't work at home. You're with the kids all day."

"That's not true. Yes, I'm home with the kids all day, but that doesn't mean I do more than you. We balance each other. And because of that, our kids are happy and healthy, they have a great life, stuff that needs to get done every day gets done, our bills are paid every month, we have a home that we love, we don't go without, and over the years our family has grown."

There was a brief pause.

"If you're serious about writing a blog column, I'll help you with it. The first thing I'd do is write out a bunch of questions for you. That could act as an outline of sorts."

"What kind of questions?"

"What's it like to leave your home and kids for almost 12 hours a day? What goes through your brain at work when you think about the kids? What's your favorite time of day with the kids? What do you look forward to the most on the weekends? What are some of the lessons you've learned as a Dog Mom? What do you love the most about being a Dog Mom? What do you struggle with the most as a Dog Mom? There are so many questions."

"I could answer those."

"Your answers could be pieced together into paragraphs. Before you know it, you'll have a lengthy blog column."

"I might write one."

"I think that would be a great idea."

We talked about other things.

Finished our first cup of coffee and started another.

When our morning coffee chat time was wrapping up, Lisa looked at me with a serious expression on her face.

"One of the hardest things about being a Dog Mom and working outside of the home is not being able to be with our kids during the day. I love spending time with our kids and I know that I miss out on a lot of moments. 

But, I am lucky because I don't have the burden of having to worry about what's going on each and every second. You're home with the kids. I know they're loved and spoiled and being taken care of. You spend time with them, play with them, give them snacks and their vitamins, cover them up when they're napping, take them out, and you know where they are at every moment. 

I know you do a lot of work stuff, but you put being a Dog Mom and wife first. You put our family and home first. 

When I come home, all of the kids greet me at the door barking and tails wagging. They're happy. The house is cleaned. Their homemade dog snacks are always stocked. You prepare meals for all of us. 

You make it very easy for me to go to work every day and do what I need to do without having to worry."

I'm not often rendered speechless, but at that moment I was.

We exchanged a few more words and sentiments.

I'm not sure if Lisa is going to write a blog column in the near future.

I hope she does, but I won't pressure her to.

What she said to me yesterday morning is something I'll never forget.

I don't need a published blog column to remember that particular morning coffee chat time.










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