6:00 a.m. – Wake up, make strong coffee, eat cereal while reading Des Moines Register, Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, New York Times. Scan new e-mail.
7:00 a.m. – Wake up the boys, help with breakfast, dressing, brushing, combing, straightening up. (Peter leaves for Iowa City by 7 [a.m.] to supervise Fellows working with patients all day at the University of Iowa hospital.)
7:35 a.m. – Drop off boys at Fairview and Davis Schools. (“Discussion” in car about who chooses which video to watch in the 15 minutes max. that they will be in the car together!)
7:50 a.m. – Return home if possible for 30 minutes spinning while reading/responding to e-mails.
8:30 a.m. – Shower, dress, and if time (I know, I know…) 20 minutes meditation.
9:00 – 11:59 a.m. – Office work and meetings.
12:00 p.m. – Run to McNally’s for lunch, then errands: replace #4 soccer ball, groceries, dry cleaners, etc.
12:45 p.m. – Return to office, prep for afternoon meetings.
1:00 p.m. – Senior Staff meeting, various topics.
2:30 p.m. – Meet with CFO Kate Walker for update on College financials.
3:00 p.m. – Call with Chair of Board of Trustees Patricia Finkelman.
3:30 p.m. – Meet with Tammy Prusha, re: travel plans for next month, speaking invitations.
4:00 p.m. – Meet with student group.
5–6:00 p.m. – Wind up office work and launch into after-school schedule: piano, soccer, gymnastics, Cub Scouts, etc., split between me, Peter and Kayla, who helps us with the boys.
6:30 p.m. – Dinner (usually cooked by me over the weekend, except the 1 to 2 times/week we eat at the Dining Hall) with glass of wine (if home!), followed by quick homework, reading, math practice, piano practice with boys.
7:35 p.m. – Tell boys to start winding down Kindle/computer/phone.
7:40 p.m. – Second and third warnings to turn off Kindle/computer/phone “or else…”
7:45 p.m. – Peter returns from hospital, rushing in after late – complicated child psychiatric patient.
7:50 p.m. – Oversee baths, toothbrushing, etc., while Peter eats a quick dinner. Then he takes over final reading/bedtime rituals.
8:30 p.m. – Miscellaneous straightening-up around house, including picking up the boys’ things that they were told to pick up earlier. Leftover laundry, catching up with work/home e-mail, packing for tomorrow’s trip.
9:30 p.m. – Read latest book (usually fiction, but at the moment “Negroland” by Margo Jefferson), scan/read two month-old New Yorker issues, latest Saveur magazine, last month’s New York Review of Books (the best reading for me before sleep!)
10:30 p.m. – Set alarm for 4:00 a.m. to be ready for 4:30 a.m. airport pickup for 6:30 a.m. flight.
10:31 p.m. – Sleep!
