Unsung Heroes

Every working mother treasures them. They are the unsung heroes, humble in their mission, elegant in their execution. We rarely speak of them––for they are sacred.

Like a crockpot, they do one thing while we do another. They are the underwire of the bra of our lives. The Zamboni of our journey. They are different for every mom, but we salute all of them.

Here are 5 things I could not do without:

Laundry Room Cubbies - Every single day this room is worth what I paid California Closets. It created a beautiful absolute––shoes? backpack? school papers? gloves? They all reside here and nowhere else. No excuses. Because Mr. Rogers taught us all so much about hanging our sweaters and removing our sneakers.

Quicken - Take my food and water, my clean underwear and put me in a Turkish prison. But don't delete my Quicken file.

Grocery List - Recipe for sanity: Mix one "what's out" list to one menu and one shopping list (arranged in shopping order). Stir, bake overnight ("did I forget anything?") and, voila, all week meals unfold like magic (except that Mexican pizza last week that refused to bake...). After all, isn't the holy grail of motherhood the meal that makes itself?

Franklin Planner, Classic - My head might write web 2.0 code all day but my heart is written in my Planner (on paper). I have kept one for fifteen years. Do you know where you were on November 15, 1997? I do––I was hiking in snowy woods (lost, actually, but that is a story for another time).

Dyson Vacuum - Don't tell Mr. Dyson, but I would've paid twice as much for this handsome hulking hunk of purple suction. If I do nothing else, a quick vacuum saves the house from evil and doom. Fur, fabric, lint, erasers, dirty socks, Polly Pocket dolls, leaves, raisins, small whiney neighbor kids? What more can I say?

I want to know, what is the wind beneath YOUR wings?