Tuesday, September 30, 2014

The Profile of Superwoman

This is my schedule: 
Monday: Conference call with a work contact 
Tuesday: Business After Hours 
Wednesday: Skype with the Marketing Committee after physical therapy
Thursday: Meet my chaplain from Elmhurst College and then go to physical therapy 
Friday: Get my eyebrows done and Spirit & Truth
Saturday: Lector at Church 
Sunday: Nothing
 
The conference call on Monday is super easy because I don't have to go anywhere. 

On Tuesday, Tiffany and I have Business After Hours at night which is a networking event through my work. Monetta usually works Tuesday night. This is difficult because Monetta needs money but I need to feel comfortable at work and Tiffany and I have this monthly event down, it's systematic by now. I feel terrible but I need to make decisions that make life as easy as possible. As an employer, I grapple with that every time I have to make a decision like that. It's an hour and a half of going up to strangers and getting them to tweet about River North Business Association. Tiffany has known about this for a month because I have to remind her every week in my Saturday e-mails. Yes, every Saturday I e-mail every single assistant and explain what we'll be doing during their shift. It's exhausting but extremely necessary. They need the addresses and how I expect them to dress for certain events. This event went very well as usual.

On Wednesday, I have physical therapy then I shower and put on a nice top for the meeting. Showering isn't necessarily exhausting but it's an event. It's certainly not jumping in the shower like people who are able bodied may do. Tiffany gets me dressed and fed, and then I check the agenda for the meeting. The meeting is going well until I sneeze and it becomes a bloody nose. Are you kidding me? I take care of it which takes a good five minutes because of my lack of control over my hands.

On Thursday, I have a meeting with Kevin, who runs a mentoring program for inner city kids. He asked me to mentor. We need to talk about what it would involve. Meanwhile, I ask Tiffany to grocery shop while I talk to Kevin. It's Thursday and I need food for the weekend. Jewel is a block away from where we’ll be meeting making it a no brainer.

On Friday, I get my eyebrows done. Now, I have the best salon ever. My eyebrow lady is so patient with my body but it's still stressful because being still is so difficult for me. My mother gave me sensitive skin so the Starbucks barista says, “you just got your eyebrows done, they look great.” I thank her and ask how her real estate classes are going. She has a test this weekend. I make a mental note to ask about her test Monday. 

All throughout the week, my toilet has been running nonstop and annoying the heck out of me! So, I'm relieved when I hear silence Friday afternoon. Oh joy! 

On Fridays, I always go to Spirit and Truth. It's a young adult adoration group. I have to be silent for a half hour. This is a really good thing for me. It's as if Jesus is saying, TAKE A BREAK, SUPERWOMAN! I appreciate the time to rest and center myself. 

After Spirit and Truth, Theresa and I program Prayers of the Faithful in my DynaVox. I lector the next day and I need to program a lot in. This takes an hour.

On Saturday, I have to wear my good clothes all day so I'm ready to go to church. This took years to realize but my life is so much easier if I don't change clothes right before an event. As for speaking, I use two different types of software when I lector so when it goes perfectly, I am a happy woman! 

So, the inspiration for this post came from two very different conversations. The first conversation happened when I went to a different church. I had gone home for the weekend so I had to go to Sunday night mass instead of Saturday. I had to e-mail Theresa and make sure she could come at a different time. After mass, this woman comes up and thanks Theresa for bringing me to church. I was so mad! That was when I realized I don't fit the profile of being superwoman. To the world, I don't fit into that box. Talk about irritating! The second conversation was the exact opposite. A woman who I know very well at my parish came up to me and said,” how do you do it, you always look so put together!” I respond by saying, “thank you, but it's easier because I am not a mother like you are.” This was obviously a very humbling comment.

 It is my belief that so many people assume that my assistants do the scheduling. It’s also assumed that my parents help schedule. Nope! I work out every logistic, detail, and execution of each appointment or event. That first lady made me angry. You can’t really say anything because the comment comes from a good place. After thinking about it, I decided that blogging about it was the answer. There’s so much that people just don’t know or would ever think about what I have to do to make my life work. I love explaining my life to the world.

It should not be taken for granted that my assistants are extremely diligent and utterly amazing about being there for me. Currently, I’ve had two assistants for two years, two assistants for one year, and one assistant for 6 months. That is rare and I am extremely fortunate. I have the life I want because of pure determination, great people, and my Google Calendar!

Love,
Hannah!

P.S. I dedicate this post to the super women in my life. You have taught me everything I know, and you all look a little different! 

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