Most likely, those of you who stubble across this blog have no idea who I am. So, before I make my first official blog post, let me fill you in. I am a 26-year-old father of two crazy boys (3 years and 5 years old) working as the IT Manager for a large hotel/conference center while attending college as a full-time student who volunteers as a peer tutor and student ambassador while maintaining a 4.0 GPA and running a small business in my free time.
Yes, my life is quite like that last sentence--in desperate need of punctuation, time to breathe. I have hope, however. In a mere 9 months I will graduate from college and time will, once again, be my good friend. One day soon, my day might go something like this:
At 8:30 in the morning, my two children wake me up with breakfast in bed, having already dressed themselves and brushed their own teeth. My wife has already made their lunches, and smiling as she left for work. As the children make their way slowly down the stairs to brew my morning cup, I leisurely find my way into an uninterrupted shower.
After a heavenly morning, kissing each child on the head as I drop them off at their schools (not forgetting anything they needed for that day), I proceed to my office to finish my cup while going over the day’s tasks in my office (again uninterrupted with ridiculous, unfounded emergencies).
My tasks are challenging and I feel accomplished with the work I have been able to perform for my company. We are currently working on creating a PCI-compliant credit card system, and price / consultant negotiations and upgrades are going well. My boss gives me a pat on the back, and a compliment on my dashing good looks.
At lunch time my wife calls just to say “I love you” and that her day is going well. I feel good with the hopes that dinner conversation will not be made up of complaints or tirades. My secretary (who is pretty, but not as pretty as my wife) hands me a few memos after I return from a quiet lunch off the property. After returning the calls, I spend some time researching new technologies which could raise productivity, and then head off to team meetings, and return to my office for a few games of Mahjong Titans (I’ve been incredibly productive today).
At 5:00, I clean off my desk, leaving only the next day’s task list on the top. My wife has already picked up the children, and I make my way home on traffic-free streets. Upon entering the house, smells of steak and home-baked rolls overtake me. My children greet me at the door – smiling, clean, and loving faces – and my wife hands me my favorite after-work libation. We sit down to diner as a family. We talk about our days. The children listen intently and they do not bicker or talk over one another. There are no tears. My wife does not send me or the children to our rooms.
Following dinner, we all sit down to a quiet family game night. At 7:30, the children excuse themselves to bathe and dress in their nightclothes. As they crawl into their beds at 8:00, it is my turn to tell them a fantastical story, to which they listen intently with wide eyes and smiles. My wife and I kiss them on the forehead and tell them goodnight. They say their prayers, and drift softly into sleep.
Ahhh, the ideal day.
