It's difficult. We're natural moms. I know that I could have stayed in that position but it was an instance when I was leaving for Montreal, for a conference, when my little girl stood at the doorway, crying, and said, “Mom, I don't want you to go.”
There was another instance when I was working on rail safety and I was here in Ottawa for a week, and when I came home, my 14-year-old son was taller than me. How does that happen in a week? You can't get those times back. I think that having the proper support systems is critical. I have that. My husband is amazing, and I couldn't have done what I did without his support. But I also think there are times that he doesn't totally understand exactly what's involved in my leaving. Even coming here to Ottawa for these few days, I was frantically racing around the house trying to make casseroles, get everything organized, and sign school forms.
I think it's important just to be communicating. I think that's the most important key, because unless we communicate and educate, we have nothing. We have to share these stories and we have to support each other when we hear these stories, because they are real.