Who is this Big Kid?

I jumped into a new job and thanks to Superstorm Sandy, I ended up in Washington, DC an extra five days thanks to delays caused by the storm. That left me away from the family for nine days. It was a super long time to be away.

Any amount of distance can leave me mystified by my kids. Jordan seems a year older every time I leave town. At times, she really does not seem like a little kid. I know, I know. She’s only in first grade. But there’s something about her that can seem very old for a first grader. Maybe it’s all of the experiences we’ve been able to give her. Maybe it’s because she has an older brother. I don’t know. But it is even more obvious when you haven’t seen her in a while.

But then… two seconds later… She starts whining and complaining and I remember. Oh yeah. Jordan doesn’t even turn seven until the end of December.

So I’m trying to figure out my new life… Life of working for a new (to me) and really cool organization. I’m working a job that requires travel and when I’m in town, I work at home. I’m trying to learn about a work life where I schedule things on a calendar instead of by the day’s breaking news. I’m going to try to schedule opportunities to eat lunch with the kids at school. I’m going to try to take the time to exercise in between meetings. I’ve jumped deep into the new job… and I will find ways to get back into the swing of Born Just Right. But first, I need to learn more about the new job. I want to build a solid understanding of what I’m doing. And honestly, it may take some time.

So please, bear with me. This is a really important time of the year for Born Just Right. Jordan wants to launch another birthday celebration in honor of Camp No Limits. Expect us to roll that out as soon as possible. I will finally decide on a place to sell t-shirts for our site. (I’ve been testing shirts from various sites.)

But you know what’s awesome? Coming home after being away for so long… Watching the kids run out of the house and jump into my arms with all kinds of hugs. Then we’ve been able to settle back into some of the normal things… bedtime, breakfast… playing games… walking to and home from school. I feel incredibly blessed to be able to take on a new personal challenge and allow the kids to hold onto a lot of what is their comfort zone.

———————————
By the way… Have you seen the amazing effort by Momma Expat? Thanks to a chance encounter during the BlogHer conference this summer, she’s including me in an amazing project. Jacki is planning to run a half marathon in Tanzania and she’s running each mile in honor of a good cause. Her first mile is in honor of Born Just Right and our efforts to raise money for Camp No Limits. Please consider giving to camp!