On March 27, 2007, more than 500 women kept a diary of their work day, adding entries throughout the day. An orthopedic trauma surgeon. A school custodian. A truck driver. A mine geologist. A stay-at-home-mom. A boxing promoter and matchmaker....The result is "Water Cooler Diaries," by Cole and B.K. Rakhra, the third book in their "This Day in the Life" project. This latest book highlights the dairies of 35 women, and entries like this:
3:11 p.m.: Is it so much to ask to be left alone while operating? The pager keeps going off, secretaries are calling into the room, and the OR managers keep asking me when I'll be done! For God's sake, I have this guy's leg in my hands, trying to hold the fracture in place while the resident taps a metal rod into his thigh bone. I'm sweating like a pig and there's an OR nurse relaying messages between me and whoever is one the phone. -- Erika J. Mitcheck orthopedic trauma surgeon
And this:
4:00 a.m.: There is something almost spiritual about being up at this early hour. I still get awestruck at Mother Nature when the sky is full of stars, or the moon is full, or it is pouring rain, or blowing snow. In Iowa, you get all kinds of weather. Today, it is cool but not cold, dark but not dreary.
This regular route is in the old part of Urbana, a small town of a thousand people, more or less. Some of these houses have been here for over one hundred years. In fact, I delivered to a couple of these same folks when I was a kid. My kids also delivered to most of them. And now my grandkids are newspaper carriers. We usually deliver by car during the winter months. In nice weather, we divide up the papers and either walk or ride bikes. Today, I'm taking the car. -- Joan Zieser, newspaper carrier and motel desk clerk
And this:
10:35 a.m.: My desk is piling up now. Tyler wants extra help. He sang lead in the school musical last week. And he was sick, but just during the daytime. He was able to sing during performances in the evenings, largely because he was a hero. Now, then. Could I catch him up on conic sections? And then he would be able to take the test. And then I could grade it separately from all the rest. Sigh. Of course. I do like him so much. And he did an outstanding job in the musical. Kids are amazing. -- Linda Hayek, high school math teacher
It is captivating reading. I want to keep reading through the next woman's day, and the next. When I get on a plane today, it will be the book I pull out to read. I'd love for my teenage daughter to read it, too, to get the true breadth of how hard women work at so many different kinds of jobs.
Inspired? Why not jot down an entry from your day in the comments below so we can share a day in our lives together. I'll start. As Cole writes, in the end these books were born out of "a real need to connect."
