As a child I was always used to my father and my mother being home with me. Over the years I grew accustomed to the being home, which is why it was such a big deal when my dad started working in New York City.

He would go to work every day at about 5:45 in the morning and come home around 12:00 at night. I know this might be what some kids have been used to from when they were born, but for me it was a pretty big change in my life.

I remember one time when I hadn’t seen him in a while because he was on a business trip and I wanted to hear him very badly. I got out of bed around 12:15. I wore two pairs of socks so they wouldn’t hear me walking above them, and I walked very slowly so the wooden panels on the floor wouldn’t make the usual “creaking” sound (or so I thought). I sat down at the top of the stairs… listening in as closely as I could. I was listening so carefully I could hear the sound of the microwave and the heating up of coffee and, of course, their entire conversation.

I was so used to my dad being home every day and now he was gone from Monday to Saturday. At first I was mad. I was mad at my father for never coming home to see me, and I was mad at my mom for letting him work in New York.

Later on, my mom helped me realize something. He works hard all day to bring not only the necessities like food, water and shelter, but also all these luxuries to our family and I was sitting there mad at him. I was sitting there on the top of the stairs angry with him. I learned that I just had to make the best of it and notice that a father who works all day loves his family just as much as a father who stays at home.

Although I have to admit it did take a while getting used to and a lot of pairs of socks used, I finally got used to it after some time. Well, at least I thought I was. I started to notice then when he came home for the weekend that he was almost like a stranger to our family. When he was home he didn’t talk with us much, he didn’t talk to mom much, he was on his home computer doing more work. I started to notice that the only bonding time our family really got with him was when we went to the 12:00 church (Which frankly is the only reason I went).

Now our family has bought an apartment in New York so he isn’t so tired on the weekends. This makes him happier when he comes home and easier to talk to. Although its not quite the same as it was way back when he was always home… I’m sure we wouldn’t have such a great one if he weren’t working all the time.