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2000...The Year
(The Century) of the EP
© 1999,
by Lisa M. Roberts
- 2000. I love it. It's simple, clean, to the
point. Fresh, young, rejuvenating. 2000. Never again in our lifetime
will a year sound so unstained, so flawless. Coming a breath
after 1999 -- a year heavy with age and history -- 2000 has the
ring of inception to it. Maybe it's just the parent in me that
sees it this way, but I don't know. 2001 already has a blemish
at the end, you see it? 2000 is a newborn.
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- As parents, we all know what
it's like to welcome a newborn into our lives. Each of us remembers
being immersed in preparations beforehand -- the mental, emotional,
physical -- only to be knocked into a spiritual awakening beyond
expectation and description in the moments shortly following.
The birth of life, the birth of time for that life --
intertwined seamlessly and never repeated in quite the same way
again. Now, with our children here beside us, we are poised for
yet another miraculous moment. If we squeeze the hands of our
children when the clock strikes twelve, will we each experience
a spiritual awakening like no other? And what will it be like
to welcome in the new millennium with the generation that's going
to see -- and pull -- the first century through?
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- On another level, we are all
entrepreneurs, and we face this third millennium with minds and
imaginations that never stop dreaming up new possibilities. Like
fireworks our thoughts pop with hope, noise and color, unexpected
splendor spotted with disappointing duds. We poke and prod our
inner selves, track and cater to our clients and customers, sustain
and nudge our contacts and colleagues. We work no more or less
than any other employed parent, but as swiftly as we answer email
or set up a doctor's appointment we have also trained ourselves
to brainstorm innovative solutions to our work-family problems.
Between our children and our problem-solving skills...and our
unity as a community...we bring much to the millennium table.
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- 2000. What will it bring to
us -- to our families, our businesses? I'll take a stab
at crystal gazing. (Why not toss my hat into the whirlpool of
prophesy too, everyone else is doing it!) I was a newborn in
1961 (60 would have been better -- no blemish), so I personally
am seeing the new millennium in from the vantage point of middle
age (give or take a decade).
I have witnessed the last forty years of this century and have
every hope of being around for the first forty years of the next
one. So what do I forsee the year 2000 will bring us? More members
of the EP
Community, of course.
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- This isn't wishful thinking.
The fact is that this turn of the century -- just like the last
one -- is riding on the wave of burgeoning scientific advances,
with technology that is having a direct and profound impact on
our everyday lives. One hundred years ago it was the Industrial
Revolution that changed our daily routine by diluting our natural
family ties (for the first time in history, dads and more recently
moms had to leave home for long workdays), and then providing
us with vehicles (cars, mass transit) to get to that work. On
the dawn of this new century, the Information/Internet Age is
again changing our lives but this time by bringing those "estranged"
family members back home to work (and even taking away much of
our need for all those vehicles!).
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- So I predict that in the next
forty years there will be more Entrepreneurial Parents than there are any other kind. And in
the history of humanity, the 20th century will be just a blip
of time when families were estranged from each other in their
daily lives. A blip that never happened before and never will
be repeated again. Without question, together the EP Community is writing history. Michele Broad ([email protected]),
one of our NAEP members, put it succinctly in our discussion
group recently. She wrote:
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- "I've been a bit busy lately
and haven't participated much in our discussions, but I wanted
you to know that I read all the email and am so glad you all
are out there. You help keep me focused in a positive direction
and are a constant reminder that I am not alone. I wish that
I could meet each of you and express my thanks and tell you all
what an honor it is to be a part of such a wonderful group of
caring individuals. From my house to yours, may each and every
one of you have a wonderful and safe holiday season. May our
force as EP's ring even stronger in the new millennium
and may our bond as emailer's continue!"
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- Yes, may our force as Entrepreneurial Parents resonate ever stronger...towards the
golden age of 3000.
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- Lisa Roberts is the mother of four,
owner of The
Entrepreneurial Parent, LLC and the author of How to Raise A Family &
A Career Under One Roof: A Parent's Guide to Home Business
(Bookhaven Press, 1997). Copies of her book are available for
purchase at EP
and through
Amazon.
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