Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Life as work, but I hope not work as life
Sometimes, I wonder if for the sake of my family having the little things, I am killing us as a family.
I know, what an amazingly guilt-ridden argument. But, I am normally guilt-ridden and I am actually doing much better than I used to about that. Tonight though, I was confronted with a slap of reality.
After dinner tonight, the kids and Tracey wanted to go to the new Super Wal-Mart that has been grown out of the old Wal-Mart in our neighborhood. But I couldn't. I'm facing multiple deadlines and needed to work. So, I told them to go ahead without me, and ended up nixing the plans completely.
Example #2, Tracey is taking Jacob to DisneyWorld as our present to him for his Bar Mitzvah (it was going to be NYC, but staying at a hotel there for 4 days would mean taking another mortgage on the house), and Tracey is bummed that Elliott and I can't also go. The basic reason we cannot go is that I have to work on the last two days of their trip.
There's that word again, work. I don't think of myself as a work-aholic, but I think that evidence would prove otherwise. I work a lot. Usually 14 or so hours a day. More than a few weekends.
I know that this is good for our bank account. My career is flourishing, although I work out of my house and rarely travel. We are going to be able to send Jacob to the Junior National Leadership Conference he's been nominated to. Jacob and Elliott are going to get to go to Jewish sleep-away camp in the summer (something they've been begging to do for years).
But am I missing out on my boys lives while I work and work and work?
The balancing act I am going to have to learn is not being so ruled by work that I am an impediment to family time with my boys and wife. I'm sure there's a way, I just haven't really figured it out yet.
Something else for the to-do list.
I know, what an amazingly guilt-ridden argument. But, I am normally guilt-ridden and I am actually doing much better than I used to about that. Tonight though, I was confronted with a slap of reality.
After dinner tonight, the kids and Tracey wanted to go to the new Super Wal-Mart that has been grown out of the old Wal-Mart in our neighborhood. But I couldn't. I'm facing multiple deadlines and needed to work. So, I told them to go ahead without me, and ended up nixing the plans completely.
Example #2, Tracey is taking Jacob to DisneyWorld as our present to him for his Bar Mitzvah (it was going to be NYC, but staying at a hotel there for 4 days would mean taking another mortgage on the house), and Tracey is bummed that Elliott and I can't also go. The basic reason we cannot go is that I have to work on the last two days of their trip.
There's that word again, work. I don't think of myself as a work-aholic, but I think that evidence would prove otherwise. I work a lot. Usually 14 or so hours a day. More than a few weekends.
I know that this is good for our bank account. My career is flourishing, although I work out of my house and rarely travel. We are going to be able to send Jacob to the Junior National Leadership Conference he's been nominated to. Jacob and Elliott are going to get to go to Jewish sleep-away camp in the summer (something they've been begging to do for years).
But am I missing out on my boys lives while I work and work and work?
The balancing act I am going to have to learn is not being so ruled by work that I am an impediment to family time with my boys and wife. I'm sure there's a way, I just haven't really figured it out yet.
Something else for the to-do list.
# posted by Kevin @ 9:18 PM 
