The great balancing act

These weeks are the ones that are the most difficult. I am a Sales Manager over 8 salesreps in 6 states. Occasionally my job requires me to travel but occasionally our meetings are local so I am still in town but I am required to work longer hours and go to late night dinners. So, I'm here - but I'm really not here. As a working mom, it is more difficult to still be in town during these meetings. It is difficult for the kids because I am still partially in my role as "mom", but I leave my work hat on longer and if I do come home in between meetings, I am more "managerial" than "motherly". Also, from my perspective it is really difficult for my hubby although he handles it well most of the time. He does a great job picking up my slack around the house during this time, but I really try to avoid coming home at all because it is more difficult to balance being mom and manager during these meetings. I don't want to leave my mom hat on too long and find myself tying the General Zone Manager's shoe or cutting the Director of Sales chicken into smaller pieces. Can you imagine?!? I am put there with the big boys trying to prove myself not only as a female manager, but as one of the youngest as well. Those guys know that I am balancing between home and work, so they do watch carefully to see how I handle it. It's a lot of pressure! It also is tough when hubby struggles with me being gone. Most of the time he is very understanding but I think men have a harder time when the wife and mother of the home is out at late meetings. It's tough for them to understand the networking aspect of the job and how important it is towards the advancement of your career. My industry, like many, is a "relationship" business. The more people you know and the closer you are to them, the more successful you will be. Not to say that women understand it better, but women are more used to managing the house without dads help most of the time anyway. Even though both Troy and I work, I do handle most of the household so when I am gone his workload gets very heavy especially when the kids are here. I also feel guilty - I feel like I should be able to be in two places at once. Some of these meetings have ended in arguments, but we do work it out and we try to learn from the experiences so that next time it isn't so challenging. But when you are the wife, mother, and breadwinner the demands to balance work and life are greater. I want to be the best I can be in both worlds and I think we are all surviving through my shortcomings. Of course, I'm sure it gives them all one more thing to discuss with they psychologist one day. :)