Does family really come before work?

[Smurfy]

my dad would leave the house at 3:30am and get home between 6 and 7 every night. my brother and i played travel hockey for 8 months out of the year for a combined 10 years and had practice 4 nights a week and would travel friday night through sunday afternoon every week. split between my brother and i, my dad attended 90% of all practices and games. my mom 100%. one was always with 1 of us. i was very, very lucky. my parents sacrificed every minute for us and still worked their asses off. i remember going to maine on friday night for 2 games on saturday, then to lake placid, ny for 1 game on sunday and then home. the next week to delaware and rhode island, and so on and so forth. they were machines.

how did your dad do that if he was working from 3:30am to 6/7pm everynight?

 

[timtim]

how did your dad do that if he was working from 3:30am to 6/7pm everynight?

practice was usually 8, 9, or 10 at night, the earliest slot we ever had was 7 and that was moms. it was amazing to experience. he would go on 4 or 5 hours sleep a night for years. the 10 oclock practices were usually moms, but it didnt matter. there were years when i had 9 and my brother 10, whats an hour?

he always says those were his happiest times too. i always say the practice, the driving, the never having weekends (literally -september to april and summers me and my brother were in various areas of canada for 2 to 4 weeks at a time at camps). he says he wouldnt trade those years for anything.

when he got diagnosed with prostate cancer (has since fully recovered) he told my mom he thinks about those years nearly everyday. the day he got diagnosed he told my mom no matter what happened to him, he enjoyed his kids so much that everything was worth it. remarkable man. i didnt have to look for a hero/role model outside my home.

 

[rnch]

I hear stories like that alot, when people retire they pass away quickly.
Kinda f--d up. I'm sure he worked his arse off to feed and support you.

yep! he left my mother a youthfull looking, financially secure widow who has NO interest in re-marrying. she has always said in the great lottery of life she won the powerball with my father.

 

[nefertiti]

practice was usually 8, 9, or 10 at night, the earliest slot we ever had was 7 and that was moms. it was amazing to experience. he would go on 4 or 5 hours sleep a night for years. the 10 oclock practices were usually moms, but it didnt matter. there were years when i had 9 and my brother 10, whats an hour?

he always says those were his happiest times too. i always say the practice, the driving, the never having weekends (literally -september to april and summers me and my brother were in various areas of canada for 2 to 4 weeks at a time at camps). he says he wouldnt trade those years for anything.

when he got diagnosed with prostate cancer (has since fully recovered) he told my mom he thinks about those years nearly everyday. the day he got diagnosed he told my mom no matter what happened to him, he enjoyed his kids so much that everything was worth it. remarkable man. i didnt have to look for a hero/role model outside my home.

Incredible...THAT'S what I'm talking about right there. THAT is the kind of parent I'd be.

 

[timtim]

Incredible...THAT'S what I'm talking about right there. THAT is the kind of parent I'd be.

yea. they were going to take out a loan from their home equity to send me to a prep school for hockey but i got hurt and it never materialized. both my parents were hardcore at parenting. i was very fortunate.