What exactly DO I do for a living?

Last week probably ranks as one of my toughest in a long time. I'll just leave it at "the economy stinks" and you'll all know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, on Wednesday, I'd had a day of meetings--we're talking one of those days where I was in the bathroom at work and I could sense (yes, like Spidey) someone hovering outside of the bathroom waiting to talk to me. I even contemplated sitting inside for a long while just to get a little breather, but then realized that long stays in the bathroom inevitably lead to rumors, etc.

Regardless, I was spent...keeping all of the balls in the air was a ridiculous endeavor and it seriously felt like at every turn I was either a) needing to schedule yet another meeting to make progress on something, b) needing to deal with yet another "personnel issue", or c) realizing I was not quite on my A-game. But, I smiled through it...positive-d my way through the tough stuff...took deep breaths and pressed on. You know the feeling (I hope...). The highlight of the day was my Amy's Organic Burrito for lunch--it made me uber-happy, which says a damn lot about the day!

Fast forward to the end of the day. I run--yes, literally, run--out the door because I have 20 minutes to get to the preschool to pick up my kids before they become those two sad-looking children sitting alone on a bench out in front of a closed school without any parents. Thankfully, traffic was kind to me and I made it with 5 minutes to spare. And seeing their two precious faces as they ran to me was like a gift from above...nothing's better on a rough day.

So, we get into the car, and they begin to pummel me with questions--this happens some times--about pretty much everything. "Mommy, why is your visor down?" "Mommy, why do you only have cheese crackers in your car and not peanut butter ones?" "Mommy, why don't you have lipstick on?"

Then Rhys hits me with one that stops me cold: "Mommy, how was work today?" I did one of those sort of stunned, yet proud-of-my-precocious-son faces and said "Thanks for asking, Rhysie, my day was pretty rough, but I'm better now that I'm with you."

"What did you do today that was so tough, Mommy?"

"Nothing big, Rhys, just worked."

"But what do you DO at work?"

"Daddy just says I talk to people, Rhys." (Me trying to avoid the real stuff...)

"Oh, so you meet and talk to people?"

"Yes, honey, exactly." (Hmm...sounds like I'm a tour guide.)

"I think I know what you do, Mommy...(drum roll, please...) you staple a lot of stuff. That's what you do all day." (insert proud Rhys smile here, as he's clearly figured me and my job out).

"Yep, you've got it Rhys, I definitely staple a lot of stuff...makes for a tough day."

I laughed and laughed in my own head...had to, because those many times that I thought to myself: Am I just making widgets? I now know the answer is definitely "no," I'm just STAPLING widgets. ;)