The call to be flexible…September 9

Office Manager--Jacks Family

JJ lives this life of flexibility in his career. One day he works near home; the next he works near Kentucky. There are weeks that he will be at home every night and weeks he is on the road every night. Just today he has been re-routed three times. It is his ability to roll with these punches and his love for his job that keeps his head on straight when things get crazy. Perhaps it is his comfort in knowing that he has an awesome home office manager who is doing her best to keep the whole family afloat when he is away that makes his hectic schedule so bearable.

How do I do it?

Honestly, I don’t really know myself. I have learned to adopt JJ’s mentality that things can change quickly. I’ve learned to be mobile—to be prepared. I keep with me at all times our banking info, my family’s daily calendar, a set of makeup, and mine and MD’s medications, and a change of clothes. I’ve learned to roll with my own punches, so when the message comes at 0630 that I am needed in our Foothills Annex, I can change gears and say, “Ok, I’ll go.”

Many times I am called to the Foothills in advance, and I am prepared with notebooks, notes, procedures, and passwords…the most important being the combination. The office in the Foothills is equipped so that even if you don’t bring your notes, you should be able to function…as long as the operator can get her operations right. After about four tries, I finally accomplish the mission, and we are open for business. If that is the worst thing that happened in a day, I would be doing great.

As the morning progressed I stayed on my usual course, despite my change in locale: I was able to pay the insurance, report the new account balance to the General in the field, update the family calendar and go to the bank all within an hour-and-a-half. The day was going swimmingly. I was virtually managing two offices at once.

Lunch seemed to go off without a hitch. I had not been too busy at all until about 1400. Then it all seemed to happen at once.

In the Foothills Office a throng of people is any number over five. In between driver’s licenses, tag renewals, and tag transfers my mind is switching gears from local office to home office as my cell begins buzzing with messages from the tutor and the soccer coach. The game-changer for me is when my phone was actually ringing…and it was my Granny calling.

Now, when Granny calls it is important. You stop what you are doing and answer because she would never call your cellphone while you are at work unless it wasn’t absolutely necessary at the time. I politely excuse myself and answer…

She wants to know what else needs to be done when hooking up the VCR to the TV because there is no picture…Pawpaw is not sure he is doing it right…and how is MD doing in school? Do the girls like their teachers?

All this time I am politely and quickly answering her questions and promising to come look at her VCR if she needs me to. I couldn’t help but thinking that my cousin Paul, who installs car stereos, was the better person for this job. After a short minute, I excuse myself from my conversation with her and return to my customers. I explain that she must have forgotten that I was at work, and to please forgive me.

Sometimes I wonder if I do the right thing. Sometimes I drop the ball. Like when MD was meeting with the tutor, but I forgot to send the money to school with her…or to call the PARD and let them know that she would need to change into her soccer uniform before tutoring so she would not be late to practice. All of these things work them out in good time. Maybe I worry too much.

What matters is that we can roll with the punches as they are thrown. JJ and I believe that this will be the hardest year we ever face. We both want so much, but we know that we have to take it in the right order. We both believe that we have the stuff that is required to keep our relationship strong and make it last. We have withstood the hardest trials, and there are more to come, I am sure, but we know that WE’VE GOT THIS. There are people who pray for us daily. We pray as well. We want a good life for our family. They have all lived through so much, and we want them to grow and grow their own families and share the love we have been blessed with in their own homes. We want a place for them to all come home to for dinner and football games on the big screen and bonfires and night fishing and hayrides. We want to share a whole pew and a half of another one with them at church.

I believe that if we can be flexible through this year and bend together, we will not break. 
We will, with the help of the good Lord, reach our goal.