Work/Life Balance - Sowing the Seeds

Most of the times work and life are separate events. When I am at work I try and focus on being 100% there and when I return home I invest in the lives of my family. Sometime that stars align and I am able to merge those two areas and blend the sections that make up most of my working life. This past weekend was the 4th of July and a time where we remember what it’s like to be a free nation, thank those who have given so much for us to attain and keep that freedom as well as spend time with the ones we love. It is such a wonderful thing to go out and enjoy nature with your family and when one of my colleagues invited my family to her farm on Sunday we jumped at the chance. I was very appreciative that she would welcome us out to her home to allow my girls to have an experience outside of their normal routine. We began our afternoon on the farm by picking delicious blueberries. The girls in my family love blueberries. It is a staple on their breakfast plates at our house. Admittedly I was not a huge fan of blueberries, but these were different. All my life I have tasted blueberries that were tart and bitter, with tight skin and leaving me unsatisfied with them as a fruit snack. These blueberries were different. The freshness of being just off the tree could have been the difference. Or maybe the fact that these were perfectly ripened where all that I had to do was cup the palm of my hand, apply a little pressure and they would fall off. These blueberries were perfect and they tasted like plums to me. This was magical because I love plums. I am not sure if blueberries and plums are part of the same family, but nevertheless, I soon became a huge fan. Once we filled our baskets with blueberries – in about 10 minutes or so – we ventured across the road to another farming area. We jumped from fruit to veggies as we began to pick purple hull peas, unearth potatoes, and remove peppers and corn from their stalk and vine. As a final treat, the girls were offered a chance to pick sunflowers from the seemingly endless rows that were before them. Blooms that were the size of their tiny heads and all the while soaking up the beautiful sun on this gorgeous summer day.

I am very grateful to my co-worker who gave the invitation for us to join them on the farm that day. I also enjoyed the opportunity for my wife and children to get to meet the people that I spend my time with when I am at work and away from home. Having these two worlds meet and being able to share some outside of the office time with both areas of my life was special. I am not sure if there ever is a true work/life balance. I think we all choose to go one way or the other and where we most spend our time shows what we value. I do believe it is also good to blend our work and home. It allows our family to see the work that we do and for us it is good work to make a difference in the educational and career pursuits of students. It also allows your colleagues to see you as a family and hopefully what you hold dear. No one ever believes they are paid what they are worth for the work that they do. There are times when other jobs are appealing and seem like a step up. Remember though to look at what is in front of you. Take the time to “water your own grass” and not chase the allusion of greener pastures. When you find that space where the professional and personal are moving along and also flourish when they intersect as we did on that Lee County farm in early July, I believe you’ve got something there. Hold onto it!