The Courage to Take Command: Leadership Lessons from a Military Trailblazer

11

THE BALANCING ACT

In 1990, Rand McNally offered my husband, Kerry, a cartographer, a position in Illinois. When Kerry and I moved to Illinois with our son, Neal, we knew no one. We left behind Kerry’s family on the West Coast and mine on the East Coast and balanced two professional careers with raising our son. We had to find childcare as soon as we could so I could job-hunt. We lucked out. As we were looking at houses to buy in Des Plaines, a woman who was selling her place mentioned that she ran a childcare center for kids from birth to age four. After touring the house, I went to the library and investigated the center. It had a good record. I dropped by the center the next day and was very impressed with the cleanliness, the education ...