I Know How She Does It: Compromise

It's that the classic tradeoff inherent to middle-class working motherhood—job stability in exchange for three hours a day, maximum, with your child—doesn't compute for me currently. Come to think of it, what job is stable these days, anyway?

Of course, living the freelance life means compromising in other areas. I miss chitchatting and commiserating with co-workers throughout the day. And when we go to a wedding in Santa Barbara next month, we'll be checking into a mid-priced hotel down the street from the swanky one that's hosting my friend's nuptials. But I won't be too strung out from my personal juggle to show Liam how it's done on the dance floor. And that's more important to me right now than I ever imagined it would be.

What did I do, I often wonder, to deserve all this?