The Working Mother Experience

As a Product Manager talking to customers accounts for a lot of the time I invest in my job.  Thankfully,  it is also one of my favorite parts of my job.  In fact, it is second only to mentally sparring with the incredibly smart people I get the honor to call colleagues.  However, it is the customers who renew my energy around my work.  They bring their work struggles to the table and we try to find solutions.  I confess that I love to help people.  When someone tells me I have made their day or that I have made their lives easier it puts an extra spring in my step.  If I was not so squeamish, I think I would have loved to  do something in a medical profession.  In reality, I still close my eyes when I get a flu shot so I do not have to look at the needle.  It is a good thing I found a different vocation. Wouldn’t you agree?

A few days ago, in our corporate headquarters, an executive that I greatly admire said “business is people, people is business, you can’t separate the two”.  It was a jump start to my batteries.  When I was a freshman in college, one of my business professors said a similar thing.  It made me think “I made the right choice in major” then and still is true today.

So if you like people, business, problems to solve, and smart colleagues then where on Earth would you rather be than at your company’s annual technical conference?  Double Word Score for being able to be deemed smart enough to be a featured speaker in two sessions.  Yes, being at EMC World with 7000 customers, partners, and colleagues is exactly where I want to be.  It is what I have worked toward in my quest to be a Consulting Product Manager.  I present, meet with customers in sessions, take questions on the trade show floor and get to listen to some really smart people give key note addresses.  There is even a blogger lounge to satisfy all my social media habits.  What is not to love?

As much as this is the epicenter of what I love to do and where I want to be, it is still bittersweet.  This blog is about the intersection of career, wife and mother.   I miss my family when I travel.  Did I mention that EMC World is in Orlando, FL?  Long, long way from home.  All of those cool customer meetings and sessions are happening at the few moments in the day that I could “talk” with my son.  Since I arrived on Sunday I have probably only heard his voice on the phone for a total of 3 minutes.  That is a lot less time than I am used to!  Many of my blog posts here and on www.WorkingMotherExperience.com talk about how much I love being a mom.  In fact, I was telling someone at the conference just yesterday how much my son makes me feel like a superhero.  Remember above how I said how much I love to help people?  Kissing a bruised knee or cuddling a startled toddler after a popped balloon is the ultimate in feeling useful.  His birthday is this week and I am in Florida.  He is young enough not to know or care.  His party will be postponed until after I return, but *I* know it is his birthday and it is hard.

In conclusion, I guess the point of this blog is that even when we have it all, we can’t have it all at the same moment.  I have had and will continue to have a phenomenal time here at EMC World.  Especially on Wednesday AM where we are having a breakfast panel session with customers and partners on the Working Mother Experience book.  Yet, I will also have pangs of momentary sadness where I will think of my son and very much look forward to a BIG hug when I get home.