This is so sad to admit

The company line is work/life balance.

 I like to say life/work balance.

Friday, while I worked at home I realized how out of balance my life is.

Work is insane, out of control, stressful and all consuming.

I didn’t realize how out of tilt I was until around lunchtime.

I had planned to make a can of soup for lunch.

No big task you would think.

I opened the can of soup and added a can of sliced mushrooms.

Into the pot they went.

Then it happened, my reality check about the balance in my life.

I stared at the stove I bought back in February.

I had no idea how to use my dream stove.  It has a flat cook top, double oven where you can cook at
different temps and one of them is also a convection oven (whatever that means).

I took a guess based on the images next to the dials on the stove.

I guessed wrong.

When I get home at night on the nights I commute, Jenn fixes us something like soup.

Easy and quick.

The key words in that sentence above are “ Jenn fixes us”.

Jenn has used the stove and oven many times since February.

I end up too tired from work/life to do anything except grab something from the fridge.

Hummus and celery. String cheese and turkey pepperoni. Nothing fancy or that takes more than an ounce of energy.

Who owns a new stove and finally tries to use it and has no idea how to use it after all this time?

I thought I had it figured out.

I put the pot on the stove, turned on the burner and went back to work.

I guess my sense of hearing and smell are not great.

I thought I heard the soup sizzling.

I thought I smelled the soup.

I went to the stove and poured the soup into a cup.

Back to the table to working.

I took my first mouthful of the yummy, hot lunch.

It was barely warm in fact more cold than luke warm.

I was so hungry I ate it, the cold cream of mushroom soup with sliced mushrooms.

How pathetic is that?

I had a conference call coming up, so I didn’t have time to go hunt down the owners manual to figure out how to use the damn stove.

It was as I sat there eating that cold soup, it hit me again like a 2X4 !

I need to stop preaching to others about LIFE/WORK balance, if I am not going to practice what I preach.

There are always defining moments in life and not knowing how to use a stove I have owned for more than six months is one of them.

Work is not all my life encompasses. It pays the bills, provides challenges and interaction with great people.  I think I am a good manager and I care about my team.

BUT my life is more than just my career.

I have an incredible daughter, a family that loves me and wonderful friends who really do care about me. They all put up with my moods, my highs and lows.

They have all encouraged my to stop and smell the roses and enjoy this journey called life.

How do I take control back?

Baby steps I guess.

When I finish writing this I think I will go find the owners manual for my stove or maybe I can just ask Jenn for a lesson so I can make myself a can of soup tomorrow.

Damn job.

LOL damn stove.

See you next week.

Dorian

We started hearing about a possible hurricane two weeks ago.

Florida was going to take a big hit.

My concerns were twofold.

I have a lot of family and friends in Florida.

My team at work covers the state of Florida.

A hurricane in the mortgage business can put everything at a standstill.  Re-inspections have to be ordered once disaster areas are declared.  Insurance companies stop writing policies until the storm is over.  All this can lead to challenges and  issues.

And of course, there is the worry about family making it through the storm safely.

Then last Saturday things changed, all of a sudden South Carolina was in play.

Sunday, the Governor announced mandatory evacuations for the "Lowcountry" starting at noon the next day.

Lane reversals were set to start Monday.

Monday was supposed to be a day of rest since it was Labor Day.

No such luck. It was packing up day and shut down the house day.

As we got ready to leave, I looked carefully at each room of my house.  Taking pictures in my mind in case it was damaged during the storm.

Jenn has taken pictures and video's of each room in the house for insurance purposes.

One of us was very practical and the other very emotional.

I said a prayer that all would be OK.

I also asked Mom, Dad and Dan to keep an eye on the house.

Tuesday we hit the road at 6:10AM.  We were very lucky traffic was terrific.

We are also blessed to have Mary open her house to us weekly and for evacuations.

We dropped everything at her house and went to work.

Then all we could do was wait and wait and wait.

I was slightly obsessed with the weather reports.

The island I live on was shut down.  The gate at the bridge onto the island was locked.

I couldn't go home even if I wanted to.

Thursday, we were told the mandatory evacuation was lifted. 

Friday, it was time to pack up and head home.

Once again the traffic was not too bad.

As we drove on the island, there were signs of the storm but nothing too catastrophic.

There were some very big branches several feet long in the back of the house.

Our driveway looked like a carpet of leaves and debris.

Inside the house, it looked just as it had when we left Tuesday morning.

Time to put the house back together and unpack.

Drifting off to sleep in our house was wonderful. 

All of my fears had been for no reason.

Saturday morning, I woke up at first light.  I wrapped a blanket around me as I sat in my recliner.  I felt such a sensed of peace.

It was wonderful.

This is the third hurricane in the three years I have lived here.

It was the second time I have evacuated.

It doesn't get any easier with each passing storm.

See you next week.