I always supported the women I worked with having time off to go to parent-teacher conferences and doctors' appointments or bringing their infants into the office.
On balance my life has been a constant stream of blessings rather than disappointments and failures and tragedies. I wish I had been re-elected. I think I could have kept our country at peace. I think I could have consolidated what we achieved at Camp David with a treaty between Israel and the Palestinians.
Our real blessings often appear to us in the shape of pains losses and disappointments but let us have patience and we soon shall see them in their proper figures.
We must return optimism to our parenting. To focus on the joys not the hassles the love not the disappointments the common sense not the complexities.
We're living in a time when parenting is not at all mirroring the way I was parented. For me I just followed my parents around on their errands when they were busy on the phone I was quiet. It's a different kettle of fish these days: They run the house and you listen to their music and you go to their appointments.
The muse holds no appointments. You can never call on it. I don't understand people who get up at 9 o'clock in the morning put on the coffee and sit down to write.
I loved raising my kids. I loved the process the dirt of it the tears of it the frustration of it Christmas Easter birthdays growth charts pediatrician appointments. I loved all of it.
I don't have expectations. Expectations in your life just lead to giant disappointments.
Women in particular need to keep an eye on their physical and mental health because if we're scurrying to and from appointments and errands we don't have a lot of time to take care of ourselves. We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own 'to do' list.
In other words don't expect to always be great. Disappointments failures and setbacks are a normal part of the lifecycle of a unit or a company and what the leader has to do is constantly be up and say 'we have a problem let's go and get it'.