Career And Family

[ClassicRockr]

Did your career take you away from your family a lot? For some jobs, the money is excellent, BUT the downfall can be traveling a lot. I've read about fathers feeling bad b/c they weren't around their kids enough when they were growing up. Sure, the wife and kids had a nice house to live in, lived in a nice area, nice clothes and had some "toys" (boat, motorhome, wave runner, etc.), but the wife and kids didn't see their father that much because of business trips.

Years ago, I dated a lady that was going thru a divorce partly b/c her hubby wasn't around that much and b/c he got involved with another gal in the Good Sam Club they were in. Anyway, he worked a good job in the Aerospace industry, but the over-time money is what really gave his family the "good life". I went over to her house and I couldn't believe it.........a tv in every room, but the closet. I had never used a bathroom with a small color tv in it! The house was big and beautiful w/a small enclosed plant house and Jacuzzi in the back. A nice motorhome and ski boat at the side of the house and a Jet Ski inside the garage. Nice stuff, but the only time the family seen him was when they took a summer vacation, Thanksgiving and Christmas. She told me she asked him once about spending more time with the family and his response was, "where do you think this house and everything else comes from, my over-time! So, you either want the "good life" or me with you and the kids. She chose the "good life" and so the divorce started. Actually, he moved out of the house and into the ladies house he was involved with. She had a husband and he moved out when he found out she had been seeing someone else.
So, just what does a woman and her kids do when they have the "good life", but the hubby and father isn't there.........he's making the money they need for that "good life"!

Now, on the other side of that coin is the hubby that is gone quite a bit and the wife likes, even loves, it! She can do what she wants, when she wants. Heck, come along Friday or Saturday night, she's out with her girlfriends partying and he's on the road. Guess there's nothing like being married and single at the same time!

 

[oakapple]

I once heard a doctor [on the radio] saying that he had attended a lot of 'death bed' scenarios, and heard a lot of things from the patients, but the one thing none of them had ever said was ' I wish I had spent more time at the office'. That says it all doesn't it?

 

[Josiah]

My wife and I worked together in our own business for thirty years. This arrangement has the potential for serious disagreements over strategy and direction, but what made it work out very well for us was that we each brought talents to the business that the other partner didn't possess. It also didn't hurt that the business was a solid money maker from the very beginning.

 

[Blaze Duskdreamer]

I've never allowed it to. Not that I had the luxury because I was the single mother. Still, I only rose so high by choice and accepted lower pay to be there with my daughter (and the cat, lol, can't forget the cat) every day. I don't regret this. I think I would regret if we had it all but each other.