1, 2, 3, Jump!

by Marie Martinez

As a wife, mother, daughter, sister, grand daughter, best friend and employee of two part time jobs I can certainly appreciate the art of juggling! Being able to keep at least one ball in the air while managing to keep control of the two in hand was never really a skill of mine until it became necessity.

I am the wife to a husband who works a night shift, which means helping as much as I can during the day so he can sleep and getting up in the middle of the night when he returns from work so that we can have some adult conversation and catch up on the day’s events. Some nights I struggle to keep upbeat and interested in our conversation, but once I realize it is the only time we can have to ourselves I look forward to our middle of the night chats.

I am the mother to a 20 month old toddler who has a passion for exploring and as of lately seems to have no fear. She will just jump off the couch or fling herself onto the ground and giggle those precious belly laughs. No longer can I sit back and let her read books or stack blocks while I do chores, she needs action and definitely some supervision!

I am the daughter to parents who have busier schedules than mine! Finding time to visit and catch up is definitely a challenge. My mom, dad, and bonus-mom are all small business owners and so I typically find myself talking to them while they are working and trying to not interrupt. We recently set up a webcam so that the grand parents (both local and afar) can see my daughter. What about me?

I am the sister to one brother and three bonus-brothers, which is a lot of men! Each is grown and finding his way in life, facing challenges of marriage, children, careers and school. Being the oldest I want to be able to offer my words of wisdom, but most of the time they find the best answers all be themselves!

I am a grand daughter to my paternal grandfather and my maternal grandmother. Both live locally and so I am very blessed to see them quite frequently. I would love nothing more that to be able to spend an afternoon with them, watching them teach my daughter how to gently pet the cat, pick flowers, toss a ball or ring a bell. Unfortunately scheduling a whole afternoon of free time is difficult, but when I manage to pull it off it makes for a great day!

I am the best friend to a woman who lives a complete opposite lifestyle than mine. She has time to attend school, visit with friends, decorate her condo and even venture a Lake Havasu spring break at 30 years old. At our cores, we are the same, while on the outside she longs for a husband, family, career and I long for the carefree times of going on vacation on a whim. We support one another in our efforts to juggle it all and find our way in this life.

I am also the employee to a government entity, the county attorney’s office, where I am the Volunteer Coordinator for Victim Services. I must juggle the schedules of my 15 volunteers and three interns so that our staff of 18 gets the help they need. The position is 20 hours a week and so my main challenge is managing others’ schedules while I am out of the office. It is trying on my patience when someone doesn’t follow through with their offers to volunteer but when it does all come together the help that our victims’ receive outshines my struggles.

I also work part time for my dad who is a land surveyor doing drafting of his topographies. His work and home life schedule doesn’t always seem to fit with mine, but we take each task week by week and schedule accordingly. I consider myself very lucky to be able to work with my dad; at least I get to spend time with him, even if we are working!

So as hectic as my life seems sometimes, with all the hats I wear and duties to uphold, I try to find time to have some quiet time in my life. Quite often I find that my quiet time is filled with balancing the checkbook or working the next month’s babysitting schedule but those chores in themselves make for a smoother run of things when the time comes.

Toss three balls my way and I won’t be able to keep them in the air. Toss me a dozen tasks and I will find a way to get them all done and still find time for an afternoon latté. Don’t ask me how I am able to do it, because I don’t have an answer. Maybe I have learned it from my toddler 1…2…3…JUMP!


____________

Marie Martinez may be reached for comment at mmmartinez@cableone.net.