My husband called my this morning to tell me I would need to re-arrange my schedule for next Thursday and take the kids to school. I assumed he had a work-related meeting and got immediately defensive. I had previously set aside that day as one of my “untouchable” days where he would need to pick up the slack with the kids, house, etc., as there is a very important event with my work happening that day.
So, with this frame of mind I snapped back at him, “so what meeting came up that is now more important than my board?”
He paused for a minute and then replied, “I have to go in and have some cancerous cells cut off my head.”
Of course, at that point I felt horrible, had to completely backpedal, and assured him I could change my day around.
Bottom line was, I overreacted to something without listening to the whole story. A classic error in communicating and one I need to continually work on.
Have a great day and keep up the good work, Regards, Kristin Stengel
CDR Kristin L. Stengel