All PR people have their favorite columnists.  Mine happens to be Anna Quindlen.  I’ve never pitched a story to her, never coordinated an interview for her, never seen a client in one of her stories.  I just love reading what she writes.  Ms. Quindlen has an uncanny way of writing columns that are pertinent to my life, and her recent sidebar in the Newsweek cover story “The Myth of the Perfect Mother” hit close to home.

You see, her column ran the very week I returned to work after a 5-month maternity leave.  Here I was - coming to grips with leaving my beautiful daughter in the care of strangers and devoting my life (~60 hours a week of it) to taking care of clients and colleagues.  Was I nuts?  Oh, I had such a vision of how my life would be. I would work a job I love, raise my child like Carol Brady, exercise a few times a week to stay healthy and fit, and be a good wife to my husband.  I had visions of bliss.  (Insert images of angels and sounds of harps here.)  I really thought I could have it all.

Anyone who works for a PR agency knows I was, in fact, crazy.  In my whacked visions, I forgot to factor in the trials of agency life:  busting ass to get my work done so I can be home before baby goes to bed, feeling guilty when I have to head home while others are cranking away at work, having to choose between a crying baby and a client calling my cell phone, prying my eyes open at 11 p.m. when I am working on a press release. Reality did not map to the glamour in my mind … so is it really worth it?  Simple answer: yes.

You make it work.  It certainly helps that the team at Voce is more than supportive.  My colleagues are open to my flexible schedule to ensure I get time with my baby every day.  They are patient when I have to leave early for doctor appointments or when I am on baby duty when my husband is traveling.  In return, I do my best to pull my weight. I work early in the morning before the baby awakes; I work late into the night after she has gone to bed.  Yes, you give up things that used to be important to you.  I have not exercised in weeks (months?) and I can’t remember the last time I read a book.  But, I enjoy my job and I adore my baby.

To quote Anna Quindlen once more, I am simply trying to be “the good enough mother” - not the Wonder Woman of my dreams.  And that’s not PR spin …

– Stacy Libby