Sometimes being a professional mum feels a bit like this.

I pass this tree on the way to work sometimes. One side is reaching back to the house, one side reaching out to the transport infrastructure on the road. It might look like two trees from certain angles but it's still only one. The weight of the lateral branches might be risky in a storm, but otherwise the tree is thriving.











There is a 'thing' where a small number of women in their 50's, who have been through child-rearing and struggled on part-time and are now back to full attention on their career, have rocketed up various chains of command, apparently out of nowhere, and ended up in high-prominence public, political or corporate spots.

Is this when the two halves of the tree can join around the structural obstruction- when she can put all she has learned over time to grow in one direction?