Recently my son had a homework assignment to write a sentence with each of the week's spelling words. For the word “plan” he wrote the following sentence: “My mom plans things.” When I asked him what it is that I plan he said, "everything, like all of our activities and the things we do." Bingo! We moms plan, schedule and orchestrate everything from extra curricular activities to play dates to wardrobes, meals, vacations and any and everything else imaginable. We are the “Planners-in-Chief.” We not only plan all the details but we have the overarching vision, the dreams for our kids, the way we imagine and hope and steer life’s ship for our children and families. We are the authors of their lives - every day and in every way, writing and working on their life's story. It's consuming and exhausting but honestly I wouldn't want it any other way.

As the Planner-in-Chief, I'm constantly in plan mode. I use the "tasks" feature on my Blackberry to create memos for upcoming trips, jot down notes and ideas for weekend or holiday breaks, and to do's or items for the next grocery run as they pop into my head. I'm always having the "what's next" conversation with myself. I take a quick glance at the calendar and start thinking in advance like for my 8 month old's first birthday party (yay!), summer camp for my 6 year old, and yes, what Christmas theme and decorations I want for next year. Ok, the last one is a little crazy but I'll be less crazy come December because I at least started the plan in advance!

Now, plans don't always pan out. For example, this blog post was planned for last week but didn't happen. So I made a plan B! That's the real world. And so is the reality of the overwhelming nature of motherhood. Planning helps to make it more manageable. And it empowers us when we’re organized and not scattered. So here's to all of us Planners-in-Chief...we rock and you can bank your plans on that! Cheers!