Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot

When I was a kid, my dad was a teacher. Ok he was a teacher when I wasn't a kid too. What that means, when your dad is a teacher is that your family is BROKE. Teachers don't make crap for salary and they used to make LESS.  My dad was forever doing "a second job" to help us get by, usually something not discussed in polite company but not always. He ended up writing bail bonds as his long term second job, just to help us be able to eat.

He used to go on about how he could have a job where he made a LOT more money, but he'd have to travel. He'd NEVER be home. NEVER. He'd be on the road. Sure, we'd have a nice house that actually had insulation for the winter (ours didn't), and we'd have THINGS but he wouldn't ever BE there. And of course he'd never do that to us.

Funny thing, though - he wasn't ever home. He got up around 6 am and went to work. After work he went to bars etc to hand out business cards and get more work. We were home without him, with my mom clipping coupons and eventually starting her OWN business so SHE could make ends meet.

Families are made of people but they require money to function. That's just the cold hard truth. I guess that's why, despite missing them all so much, I don't mind leaving my family for work for 3 days or so every few weeks. Because I'm not gone constantly and long term this is good for us.

This may be my new favorite seat in the house, by the way - SO SO SO CLOSE to the good life. SO close.

I love the professional challenges I've been given, they make me feel valued - and I feel like I'm positively contributing. I'm building something good.

For my family though, I regret that I'm not sharing everything with them when I travel. That's the part I do regret. I want to show them everything I'm seeing and feeling. Except maybe the airplane that was leaking all over me.

You know you're on a commuter flight when the flight attendants just hand out napkins without a word and everyone goes to work stuffing the gaps so the rain stops inside the plane. It's just condensation but it's annoying.

This stop was Toronto, the amazing city by the lake. I still can't get over how massive it is. Every time I go I just think about how some day I'm going to get my family up here to show them this place. I guess I want them to be as amazed as I am.

Arrive Weds, return Fri - everyone no worse for the wear except for my poor husbands frayed nerves from my kids driving him nuts for three days. I think it will be better when school starts and they aren't HERE all day.

I wish my dad had taken that job, the one where he was never home. He was never home anyway, and maybe our whole lives would've been different. Not just because of the money, but because of the life choices he ended up making - because of where he is now due to them. I'm glad I said yes and made this choice for me and for my family.

It's going to work out great for all of us. We just have to hit our groove with this mom travelling thing.

We'll get there.
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