Mrs. Cooper, Instructor Keefer, Outreach & Communications Specialist…and…Mom

This morning, Matt asked me if, now that I’m working from home, juggling three jobs, and planning a wedding, if it feels like a good arrangement for being a stay-at-home mom - if I think I can handle it. He really got me thinking. Minus the wedding, and considering that ASU is only August-May and that work for my Dad is sporadic and flexible, I think I could be a very good working mommy. What better situation could there be…? I get to keep my job titles, get paid a very decent salary, and be a mom.

Working from home can be difficult: three email accounts’ worth of emails coming through on my Blackberry; constant reprioritization of tasks; figuring out what Pandora station to keep me rocking all day; kitties trying to sit on my lap, on the keyboard, on the printer; instant messages from work colliding with IMs from west coast and southwest friends catching me online; the enticing sounds of birds in the tree and sunlight tempting me—the distractions are varied and constant.

I’ve heard different variations of the same story from my Mom a million times: relentless me bugging her until her wit’s end – “Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy” … “What!?!” And that’s only when I was old enough to talk/. Let’s not forget the first year of being a mommy—trying to establish a feeding and sleeping schedule, fit in housework and cooking, and still find a few minutes to spend with Matt…AND hold down two online jobs.

But, at the end of the day, I like the idea of bringing home some bacon and being wife and mother at the same time. It’s really the best of both worlds—I can be the same strong, independent, working woman I am now, and also the Donna Reed who is inside of us all. I won’t pretend to think it will be easy, or that I’m not scared; I’ll just keep learning how to juggle.