MICHELLE COYLE-EULAU: A Maximum
Mom
"Michelle,
it's 11 o'clock!" Dennis Eulau would shout. "Could you
just come to bed?"
After all, her day had started at 5 a.m., with the
NordicTrack workout, then the frenzy to roust, dress and
feed their three little guys -- ages 2, 5 and 7 -- and
get herself to work, two days a week in the city and one
at home, as a systems analyst at Marsh & McLennan. On
city days, she arrived early so she could jam in a lot
and leave on the dot.
Mrs. Coyle-Eulau, 38, would go home to Garden City,
N.Y., dine on cereal, then supervise the boys' homework
and bedtime rituals. Then she would plan weekends. A
skier and snorkeler, she was the one who pushed everyone
out the door for activities.
She was a to-the-max mom. A coach from an opposing
soccer team asked her to tone down the cheering. Before
school started, she would seek out teachers, demanding,
"What can you do for my boys?"
Here is what the boys did for her: last Mother's Day,
they cooked pancakes with red and blue food coloring. She
even ate them.
What took her so long to get to bed? Packing lunches,
making grocery lists, arranging play dates. "I never
understood," her husband said. "Now I do."
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