One of my favorite TV shows while growing up was “The Cosby Show.”

The kids were likable. The parents both worked yet appeared to have time for each other and each of their children. The dilemmas facing their family were handled with humor and ingenuity, and when the kids really broke the rules, they received punishments, but yet it was apparent they were still loved.

Back then, I wanted that life. Not to be in their home, or to be adopted by Heathcliff and Clair Huxtable (Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad), but to someday be a successful career woman, married to a successful career man, with our perfect child or children and living in a beautiful home.

What does this have to do with you, you ask? Well, what did you wish for? Are you where you thought you would be?

My marketing and public relations career has been pretty successful. I’m married to a successful man, we have a gorgeous son and a beautiful house.

I have everything I wished for. For the most part.

That “for the most part?” I’m still trying to find that perfect balance of home life and career life. How about you?

No matter how many career deadlines and challenges I’ve faced over the years, nothing could prepare me for leaving my son after maternity leave, for trying to rearrange meetings with physicians or health system directors when I have a sick kid, or even for those days when my son just doesn’t want me to leave him.

I was always the worker who enjoyed many of my projects and challenges. I would eagerly take work home in the evenings, staying up until two or three in the morning, trying to finish something.

Having a child took away a large portion of these evenings – not to mention my ability to catch-up on sleep at a later time. And if I’m on a deadline, negotiating with a three-year-old so I can have some quiet computer time is sometimes a good lesson in why the United States will not negotiate with terrorists.

Now, three years after having my child, many days still feel like an insane juggling or balancing act. I still enjoy my career and am thrilled I work for a great, supportive organization that encourages a positive work-life balance, but I wonder if true balance is possible.

So I ask you, my marketing and public relations colleagues, how do you balance your life and career? Can we truly “have it all?”

Rachel Hill Smith

Marketing Specialist, Mercy Health System

WHPRMS Southwest District Representative

Proud Mom and Occasional Personal “Mommy Blogger”