Blog World Expo (BWE09) was last week and if you happen to be working at a start-up in the social space, it could be a good idea to participate! Problem is, with just under 50K miles logged in the past three months, one more social media “whatever” (no offense Rick, BlogWorld was great) is not really solidifying my prioritization schedule of Family First.
But participate we did! As the sponsor of Brand/Blogger speed dating, Collective Bias worked to foster the conversation between brands and social communicators of all types. The CB team also built direct relationships with the BWE closing party and through the sponsorship of over 20 Bloggers to the event. Word.
My week began pretty much as usual; I boarded a plane late Sunday for a client pitch, flew back to Arkansas to kiss the Marys Monday night and then turned to go to a Shopper Marketing conference in Ft. Myers Tuesday and then on to Vegas Thursday.
Here’s the deal, by poor scheduling (definitely my fault) I managed to not make it back for my daughter’s school’s track and field day on Sunday afternoon. I could have easily booked a red-eye on my original itinerary, but missed the timing. When I called to switch, as anyone knows that has missed a flight in Vegas recently, there were no seats (nice capacity management airline industry). Undeterred, I headed to the airport at 4 AM seeking to go standby for the earliest flight I could get. I did get on a flight to Dallas at 6 AM, but on Sunday, connections to XNA are few and far between until the evening.
I missed the event.
I am still devastated. I really want to be an entrepreneur and run my own company but I refuse to do so at the expense of missing moments in my daughter’s life. She fully recognized that I was not there to see her win a trophy in her race and she was crushed. I can assure you this will NEVER happen again. So, if I am late calling you back, miss a meeting or don’t attend an event, it doesn’t mean it’s not important to me, it just means I have a higher priority. I hope you understand.
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10 comments:
Pretty inspiring reminder to remember the little ones in our lives...they're only little for a short time.
This is such an important post. We often forget our kids because there will be "other" events- only to find that we miss those, too. Thanks for your words.
I can still remember the look on one of my kid's faces when I missed her performance by mere minutes. She was so disappointed, but not as much as I was.
Parents are bound to screw up. We're human. The good thing is trying to avoid that screw up. Some parents don't even do THAT much.
You're a good dad, John. I'm sure your sweet daughter knows that, too.
Awww, you are human. We all miss something in our life time of being parents. You sound like a GREAT dad!
I didnt know there was such a thing as Dad guilt. I thought it was only something we (us moms) carried. It's good to know there is a human there behind that screen name John and it's good know he has got his priorities straight.;)
As disappointed as I'm sure she was, I'm also sure she knows you tried.
I commend you for making your family a priority! That is something missing in a lot of today's dads and seeing a committed and involved dad is very refreshing!
There will be a time where she is old enough to realize the effort you put forth in trying to get back to see her event - because honestly she will forget it real quick at the age she is at now. But you will tell her the story again when she is older and she will realize how cool her Dad is and was to have made that kind of effort for her.
Inspiring! I can tell you are a great dad in conversations that we have had. You are a loving father and the fact that you did everything could do to get there proves that
Unfortunately, I don't think we are immune to guilt as a parent. Actually, the moment our children are born the guilt starts. I remember feeling guilty when I had a hard time breastfeeding and after exhausting all energy and resources, I had to give in to the bottle. Oh boy did I feel guilty, but I tried and in the end, that is what matters. There is only so much we can do to be great parents and as long as we try our best, we are doing our job. Don't be so hard on yourself. Make sure you are always trying your best (sounded like you did) and the rest will work itself out.
I already feel this guilt with my little one and presently don't travel at all like you do.
This post however did give me a lot to think about and as a new parent I have been thinking a lot about events my parents may have missed.
I think the most important thing we can do for our kids is be 100% present when we are with them (instead of zoning out watching TV, or being on the crackberry).
Giving 100% when you with them is much better than being "not there" 100% of the time.
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