I was flipping through the channels this morning and caught a tease on GMA about an upcoming story on Bethenny Frankel and new details on her “brutal divorce.” The segment that followed had Bethenny sharing a couple new details of her bitter divorce and custody battle for her 3 year old daughter Bryn, but focused mainly on her entrepreneurial success. [As an aside I passed Bethenny’s ex Jason Hoppy pushing a stroller on the street in Tribeca a few months back and he’s obviously a real hands on dad (no nanny in site!)]
As I watched the segment I heard all about Bethenny’s new ventures, and, yes, she is a powerhouse. About to launch another book and debut her TV talk show this fall, she seems to be at the height of her career. Not to mention she was recently on the cover of Forbes, and titled as one of “The New Celebrity Money Makers”.
Intrigued by the the former Real Housewife’s current status, I looked up the full interview online. In it, ABC News Reporter, Deborah Roberts said something that got me thinking. “Despite the lowpoint, or maybe because of it, Bethenny’s career is reaching new heights.”
Reconciling work and family is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. It seems like we very few modern women can in fact “have it all” — at least not at once. For women like me who have set career aside for the moment to raise a family, it’s a somewhat strange place to be. After all, for many years my career was my baby– the thing I poured all my time and energy into, sacrificed for and nurtured into what I wanted it to be.
During my first year as mom I was so focused on baby (and truthfully quite happy to not be working) that I didn’t give my former TV career too much thought. Yet, perhaps it is because motherhood is trying at times and society really doesn’t recognize or credit the hard work that comes with the job; or maybe it’s the fact that I had a coveted job that doesn’t come around often; or perhaps ultimately it’s just my flawed nature of never being fully satisfied and always driving for more and better, but this conversation and question of being a modern woman/mom, and what that’s all about, still happens in my mind.
So, can we really every have it all?
I like the answer Maria Shriver (a woman I admire greatly) gives in this video. She relays that her very wise mother told her that women can have it all… over a lifetime, not necessarily all at once.
Mommyhood: Take 1 
