Perspective

I started my day listening to a speech by the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, which was also covered by reporters from national business media wire services. I got to ask the speaker about U.S. monetary policy in relation to commercial real estate issues. I was feeling pretty smart, despite being in a fog from a bad night's sleep.

When I got home from work, after telling my husband how interesting Janet Yellen's speech was, I asked my son if he went pee-pee on the potty today at daycare. And then I thought, gee that kind of puts things in perspective.

We've got these major issues throwing the global financial system into disarray and leading to the unemployment of millions of people, but really my biggest concern is how my three-year-old is doing with his potty training. Of course, while I'm in the office tomorrow, my biggest concern will be translating the San Francisco Fed president's speech into a concise account of her stance on unemployment trends and commercial real estate.

Sure, a healthy economy and the free flow of capital to businesses and consumers helps all of us, but the key issue affecting my life today is the challenge of getting my son to go to the bathroom in the toilet, rather than in his pants, before he turns 4 years old and we visit my in-laws in Iowa in June. It's nice to keep these things in perspective.