Real Life Interrupts
By now most of you have seen this BBC News interview with Robert Kelly where his children strut right into the room to join in the fun. The first time I saw the video, I laughed so hard I cried...the first little one struts right in like a boss and the second one follows in the walker. Then, we all feel so bad for Mom who tries desperately to remove the children from the room without incident; I think we can all relate to this on some level.
Having telecommuted on and off for over a decade, I've become a master at multi-tasking. There was a time that I could diaper a baby with one hand and run a teleconference with the other without anyone on the line even knowing what was going on on my end of the phone. As the kids got older, teaching sign-language came in handy so they could come in and ask for help without making too much noise during my conferences.
I have countless stories of children walking in on meetings and presentations...to include one really good one of my youngest crawling into my lap and throwing up all over me just as it was my turn to speak. Of course none of these was during TV news interviews, but these are great reminders that "Life Happens." At the time, I'm sure Mr. Kelly was terribly bothered with his family but in the end, I'll bet they had a great laugh about it and now a great story to share at cocktail parties.
These moments are what life is all about, sometimes it takes us a minute to step back to see life for what it is...to appreciate some of these seeming inconveniences as reminders that it's the little things, and the little people in our lives that really matter.
