” I wasted a lot of time,” confided a long-time friend as she described the years that she had not worked outside the home. She and I were having a conversation about her decision to return to work. At the time she had three high school aged children. The dialogue stayed with me.
A recent conversation got me thinking about this ‘wasted time’ exchange. A friend was out and about with a visible kick to her step. Continue reading…
Last Sunday my family and I participated in the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk. For those who aren’t Bostonians, the Jimmy Fund is the fund-raising arm of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute dedicated to supporting research on childhood cancers. My daughter and I were walking a pace or two behind our team. We happened to be interspersed with a group called Jessica’s Twinkling Stars. There were maybe 30 of them including 8 or 10 little girls about my daughter’s age. Each of the girls had a light purple crocheted hat; some hats were adorned with white flowers. My eight year old daughter was captivated by the hats. Continue reading…
“Does someone pay you?” quipped my daughter this morning as I tried to explain my current self-employed status. She and my son have been on the “does Mom work?” line of questioning over the past week. It is clear to me that they are struggling in their minds to understand my role, or said better, my changed role. Continue reading…
An incident struck me yesterday morning. I was walking with two neighbors at the crack of dawn — as I do regularly. We were discussing an issue that hit a chord with one of my compatriots. She physically changed as the conversation ensued. Her body tensed and she began to shake ever so slightly. Needless to say she was very keyed up. She was struggling with anyone – it didn’t matter whom – who couldn’t see this topic the way she did. From my view she seemed absolutely CLOSED to anything anyone else had to say.
It was a powerful juxtaposition to my summer – a summer that opened me up to scores of new thinking about women’s transition issues. Continue reading…
I happened upon a cool website yesterday: the Marine Biology Lab in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The piece that caught my eye was a story about a professor from UCSF who has started a web series called iBio; a series of free video lectures and vignettes by the world’s best biologists. There was one story that spoke to my Novofemina side. Continue reading…
Do you remember the sock puppet commercial from the early 2000’s? I think it was for pets.com or some other internet start-up. A sock puppet with scraggly hair and button eyes would respond with the phrase, “the horror,” to many missives tossed at it. It was silly and cavalier and – most of the time – just perfect.
The sock puppet’s “horror” voice was in my ear in Continue reading…
What a week! It started with a minor hand injury that has left me with a few splinted fingers. At the funeral of a dear family friend – also this week — I had to duck a few crushing hand shakes given that the blow was to my right hand. My visiting mother-in-law queried me about how we plan to raise our children given that my husband and I hail from different faiths. Caught a bee sting today while watching our two little stars at a ‘mock’ swim meet. Did I mention that this was a family vacation week?
Amidst this swirl I read, Continue reading…
Driving yesterday I heard an NPR story on WCAI, the Cape & The Islands (CAI) radio. They broadcast a show entitled “The Moth” which features audio storybooks of everyday Americans. Their first story really gripped me: an autobiography by Aimee Mullins, a young women who lost both of her legs at birth and has used prosthetic limbs ever since.
Ms. Mullins told a truly amazing story about her life and her various opportunities to touch the lives of others. One was a little girl who also had an artificial limb. At the time Aimee first met her she had been struggling. Kind of ‘just’ getting along – setting no great expectations for herself while locked inside the world’s limited view of her capabilities. Aimee inspired her to re-frame her expectations for herself and for those around her.
At a chance meeting a year or two later Continue reading…
A dear friend from business school stopped by to see me one day at the office. I knew something was up because she was in town from Colorado and REALLY wanted to get together. It was one of those weeks where I had kid’s events, work commitments, or other stuff every night. So, the only time we could pull off was lunch in my not-so-lovely office cafeteria.
Looking back – I am so happy that she stopped by. At lunch she shared with me an experience that had deeply affected her. Just days before she had attended a HBS event, a healthcare symposium, during which students and alumni get together to discuss emerging trends and career issues. At the event’s luncheon she sat with two soon-to-be graduating students who happened to be incredibly gifted ladies. Prior to attending HBS one had been an industrial engineer, the other a NASA scientist. Despite these credentials their conversation with my friend was astonishing. Continue reading…
Last night I happened to catch the tail end of “Invictus,” a 2009 movie starring Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar, a real-life member of South Africa’s rugby team who’s summoned by Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) to rally support in the country and unite the racial divide. At one point Mandela is speaking about inspiration with Matt Damon’s character and says (and I’m paraphrasing), “how do you get people to be better than they think they can be?” In the movie Mandela was seeking to inspire folks to simply forgive after decades of horrid, tortuous behavior that divided South Africa. Decades earlier a first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, penned “It’s Up To The Women,” daring to inspire the ladies of our country at a particularly horrid time for our nation; the Great Depression. Both leaders relied on inspiration to get folks to accomplish more than they thought possible. My summary is the same for transition; we simply need a bit of inspiration. Continue reading…