6:30 am – I wake up, without an alarm. My body is on a routine. It seems, that circadian rhythm is a real thing. I reach for my cell phone within moments of waking up.
6:30am – 7:00am – Scroll through Facebook, starting with the On this Day segment, to see what was happening in my life on November 14th the last few years. As always, I find myself posting many of the same thoughts. In some cases, I can see where I’ve grown over time, in other cases it seems that some parts of my life are constant. Social media can be both weirdly introspective, and pervasively vapid. Either way, body is still waking up. This is my morning ritual, I need this time to prepare for the day.
7:00amish – Get out of bed, leave my wife who still gets to sleep, try to stifle my jealousy over THAT and walk to the bathroom. We’re fortunate enough to have a master bedroom suite so I can begin my morning habit of showering and getting ready for the day without distributing anyone.
7:30am – Emerge from the bedroom and yell at both boys (C 11, W 8) that it’s time to leave. We rush out the door, on our way to drop them off at school. They attend Burris Laboratory School, which has no bus system, so it is my daily responsibility to get them to school each morning. It’s good because it forces me to start my day at a reasonable hour, and gives me time alone with the boys each day. Per usual, we listen to FM 104.1 where the boys eagerly wait for the “birthday wheel.” They hold out hope each morning that their birthday will be announced so they call in and speak to Mr. Lindell (the local radio personality) and win a prize. They called W’s birthday earlier in the year and it’s been one of 2017’s highlights for him. C is still waiting for his birthday to be called, and W occasionally reminds him that HE has been a birthday wheel winner. No luck this morning as a different date is called.
7:50am – Pull into the Burris student drop off area and try to contain my frustrations about humanity. It seems that school drop off brings out the worst in some people, as the occasional parent will ignore the one-way sign and prioritize their schedule over everyone else’s safety. Then there are the parents who think the best time to have an important conversation with their children is the exact moment of drop off with a line of 10 cars waiting behind them. These are the moments where I remind myself that using profanity in front of my children is not good parenting.
8:00 am – Arrive at Starbucks for my first meeting of the day. I’m meeting a friend who does freelance marketing to talk about managing the social media accounts for my organization. Since we’re friends we spend the first 45 minutes of our hour catching up and talking about our lives. She also teaches at Ball State so we discuss the challenges of working with student teams, running community projects, and getting everyone on the same page. Eventually, we get the topic on hand. She’s interested in handling our account and will give me a proposal for providing services in 2018.
9:00am – I get up from one table at Starbucks and move to another for my second meeting of the day. This meeting is about our neighborhood association. I am the president of the association, which more closely resembles a tour of duty than a professional aspiration. She is a professional fundraiser, so we can talk about how to institute a strategic approach to our dues drive process in 2018. Much of the conversation revolves around using data to better target our residents, having intentional conversations with the residents we don’t know, and putting together a consistent message about why it is important to give to the neighborhood association. We talk about how to use both digital and analog processes to reach our multi-generational neighborhood.
10:00 am – Leave Starbucks
10:15 am – Arrive at Apple Tree Day Care. My boys are enrolled in AppleTree’s after school program. Apple Tree does NOT have online bill pay, which means this is the only bill I must physically go to the location to pay. It’s incredible to me that in 2017 a business still requires a customer to visit their location to make a transaction. Myself and the staff member spend about 10 minutes working through the math of trying to determine how much we owe for the month. The rates change depending on the week, and type of day. It’s a bit complicated. Fifteen minutes and $500 later I’ve paid my childcare bill for the month. For those of you reading this journal in at some point in the future, let me just say that $500 a month is probably what most people pay for a mortgage in Muncie in 2017. This is NOT for full day care (since my children are in school) but for the 3 – 4 hours after school each day. It’s a lot of money for me, and sadly, not that much money for the actual employees. I can only hope that by the time you are reading this we’ve arrived at a place socially where a different system for preschool and after school care has been determined. My family is lucky to be able to pay these fees. I’m not sure how less fortunate families do it.
11:00 am- I finally arrive at my office. It is a very professional building filled with most positive people all work on making their dreams a reality. I feel incredibly fortunate to not only do what I love but work in a professional, warm, and accommodating environment. My hope is that my agency is around by the time you’re reading this.
12:15pm – I arrive at Ball Memorial Hospital. I have a follow up doctor’s appointment to test my breathing. I experienced multiple pulmonary emboli in my heart in lungs about a year in and half ago. I’ve been told that I’m lucky to be alive. The doctors had to cut a hole open in my leg and run a tube up to my heart and lungs, while I was wide awake, and apply anti-coagulant directly to the clots – all while I was awake. Modern medicine is amazing. So here I am, a year and half later, waiting for a doctor to test my lung capacity as a part of yearly checkup. The receptionist informs me the test itself will take 45minutes – hour and then another 15 minutes with the doctor. I have a 1:00pm appointment that I can’t miss so I reschedule. We pick a date in December. It’s probably not a great idea to reschedule a breathing test for the sake of a work appointment but the reality is that I have immediate demands on my time and I’m still breathing so I roll the dice and reschedule.
1:00pm – I meet with my current board vice president. She will be the board president in January. I am the executive director for my agency, so this means she will be my new “boss” in January. We spend the hour talking about our roles and responsibilities, expectations for working together and broad plans for 2018.
2:00pm – I meet with the new president of the Muncie Boys and Girls Club. We discuss a broad goal of our organization providing the students with leadership training. We also talk about the nonprofit community in Muncie and his transition from the Northeast to the Midwest.
2:00pm- 5:45pm – I catch up on emails, make phone calls, and work through my task list. Since my nonprofit is small my job requires me to be a little bit of everything – finance manager, program planner, strategist, fundraiser etc. I love what I do but it can pull me in multiple directions. I simultaneously feel like I’m doing too much and not enough each day.
5:45pm – I leave the office
6:00pm – I arrive at the Horizon Convention Center for the Excellence in Innovation Awards dinner. Over 300 people from Muncie’s business and nonprofit community are in attendance – all in suits, ties, and dresses. I see several faces I know. I shake hands, make plans for future meetings, ask about people’s families or work, and grab a drink at the bar. I’m called to the front of the room because I’m a formal part of the program and the staff want to do a “run through” of events before the program official starts. I’m there to introduce a friend, J, who is winning the Excellence in Mentoring Award. J has been a great friend and mentor of mine, encouraging me to make the leap from Higher Education (my former career) to nonprofit management. She’s done a lot for me over the years, so I’m honored to introduce her.
6:30pm – The dinner / program begins. I’m seated at a table with J and others that I know. The program is a bit too long, but the dinner conversation is good. The evening is a celebration of innovation and small business. Muncie is full of activities like this. This is a community beset by poverty, so the nonprofit community frequently hosts events to fundraise and tell the stories of how they are trying to help lift up Muncie. Muncie is a state of transition as the community is trying to redefine itself. Globalization and automation have eliminated many of the high paying blue-collar jobs that built this community. What does a town built on manufacturing do when there are fewer and fewer manufacturing jobs? Times are tough, so events like these not only provide hope but are also a gathering place for the middle – upper class individuals in Muncie to contribute what funds they have to good causes. I hope that by the time someone else is reading this that we’ve figured it out. I hope Muncie found a path forward in the wake of global economic change. I hope, I hope, I hope.
8:45 pm After several speeches, and videos I finally get on stage to deliver my introduction. I feel a bit rushed as the program is way off schedule and I’ve been asked to shorten my remarks right as I walk on the stage. I deliver a heartfelt introduction, we take pictures and exit the stage.
9:30pm – The program ends and I’m finally leaving the Horizon Convention Center. I get in my car where my phone automatically connects to the speaker system and I call my wife. I check in to let her know that I’m on my way home and to see if she needs anything. She doesn’t answer so I decide to stop by Walgreens (it’s on the way home) to get myself a snack and to get her a little treat (a Snickers bar). I feel bad because I’ve had several nights the last few weeks where I’ve gotten home well after 5:00pm. She knows it’s a part of the job, but it leaves me with the feeling that I’m neglecting her and the boys. She never makes me feel guilty about it, but I think being a father is the most important thing I’ll ever do. I get a bit sad and resentful when my schedule doesn’t allow time with my family. I feel grateful for my career, I’m so fortunate compared to most, but attending late night events gets taxing after a while.
10:00pm – I get home and the family is asleep. I put the Snickers bar next to my wife’s night stand and I go back downstairs to my recliner. I pour myself a drink (Marker’s Mark bourbon) and turn on the TV. I’m tired but I need at least an hour to simply decompress before going to bed. I often feel like I’m running from one thing to the thing, and I can’t quiet my mind without this time in the evening. I finish one glass, and move on the next. There’s nothing good on TV so I browse the internet on my tablet while the TV is on the background. I read about sports, politics and pop culture. Eventually I find myself starting to relax.
11:00 pm – I go upstairs and give my oldest son (11) a kiss on the cheek. He’s sprawled out on his bed, covered up by his Harry Potter sheets. My youngest son’s (8) bed is empty, so I go to my bedroom to find my wife AND him there. He’s all knees and elbows, so he’s not the most comfortable person to share a bed with. Even still, I feel fortunate that he still wants to snuggle with his mommy and daddy. How many years of that do I have left with him? I slide into bed next to him, wrap my arms around him, and drift off to sleep thinking about the events of the day…