Random bits

[I updated my web page about our new house to include the real estate agent and broker we used.  If you’re going to buy a home in San Francisco, please consider hiring them.]

Moishe has a fever so he can’t go to day care.  Sarah called me last night while I was playing cards and I lost the coin flip and am staying home with him today.  It wasn’t really a coin flip, I just volunteered.  This is the second time in recent weeks that he’s had an unexpected reason to stay home from day care.  It’s not unusual for kids in day care, they get sick constantly but survive with better immune systems as a result.  That’s the theory at least, and I’m sticking to it.

But it makes me wonder how professionals get anything done.  The other day Moishe’s day care called, "He’s got a rash all over his body!  Come take him home!"  I was thrilled to be able to rush over and swoop in and get him.  Leaving work at a moment’s notice under that scenario is the kind of life choice that defines what kind of parent I am.  However I said to a coworker, "I don’t see how parents can hold down a full time job if they periodically have to disappear without warning like that."  It helps to have flexible jobs like Sarah and I do (or more appropriately flexible work situations) but it’s still hard.

This occurred to me as I was reading a Wall Street Journal blog called "The Juggle" about juggling work and family.  In a comment about an unrelated story about decline of sex drive after the arrival of young children, a random commenter said something very true:

However, as I’ve blogged before, the best answer for the juggle is
having the commitment to your family to step back on your career
expectations while your children are young. […] We
can have it all-just not all at the same time. You can’t give 100% to
your job, your children, and your spouse all at the same time.

Too true, too true.