Tim Russert&#039;s Reminder

Tim Russert's Reminder

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By Carol Evans

Twitter: @CarolEvansWM

As the founder and President of Working Mother Media I have been involved with the advancement of working moms for 30 years. I am often a keynote speaker on the subject of work-life balance, the advancement of women, barriers facing women of color, and leadership. When asked to appear on major talk shows including The Early Show, The Today Show, Oprah, Good Morning America, PBS's To the Contrary and on hundreds of radio shows or to comment in newspapers nationwide, I love to tell the world how hard working mothers work to keep their families and the businesses they work for moving and growing. I told many of my stories in the award-winning book: This is How We Do It: The Working Mothers' Manifesto.

Join me in this amazing conversation. By the way, I would not be a working mom without my two great kids - all grown up - Julia Rose and Robert Scott; and my husband Bob Coulombe is by my side every step of this journey. Let me know what you are thinking!

Tim Russert's Reminder

Posted on June 20, 2008

Married women all over America are reading the details of Tim Russert's tragic heart attack with dread. "It could have been my husband," we are all thinking. Who among married women of a certain age doesn't have a husband with an extra tire around his waist? Whose husband doesn't have a family history of heart disease somewhere in the family tree? It could certainly have been me. I mean it could have been Bob.

I've been worried about Bob for decades. In fact, my fear of heart attack lies at the base of almost all of my nagging.

"You have to quit smoking or I won't marry you-- why marry a dead man?" I told him 23 years ago.

"You have to exercise three times a week or you'll die young."

"Don't eat that (fill in the blank). Its not good for you."

"If you don't lose your weight it will kill you."

"Stop yelling--you'll have a heart attack!"

I'm sure it's hard to feel the love in this endless barrage of nagging disguised as health bulletins, but the love is certainly there. And the fact that the nagging has almost no impact doesn't mean that we can stop worrying, or stop nagging.

I heard on the TV at the airport this morning that a man's waist size of over 40 inches is a prime predictor of heart attack. Bob, where's my tape measurer?