After All Is Said And Done

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

“No one remembers all of the hours you worked on your job but your family.”

That was what a co-worker said to me during a recent conversation about the many times I sacrificed my own personal time for the sake of a job. Everything from volunteering to come in on my off days to agreeing to work 34 hours straight, giving 15 straight 2-hour training sessions (with one 4-hour break at midnight to nap in the lab) to ensure that training was administered to all three shifts to meet a deadline.

It wasn’t until 1999, when my 7-year-old son showed me a drawing he had made of my wife with her arms around 3 boys, looking and waving at a plane flying overhead.

“That’s YOU, Daddy,” he said proudly as he pointed at the plane.  It was me, flying off to one of my other locations, overseeing safety operations.

I know that he meant well, but his drawing was like a dagger in my spine.

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It was just a few months later that I learned that we were pregnant with our fourth son.  And my mind had been made up, but this was the nail in the coffin.

After all those years of travel for accident investigations, meetings, inspections and training sessions, I realized that after all was said and done, the companies I had worked for had zero appreciation for my dedication.  I had been loyal to them, but it really wasn’t ever reciprocated.  They just wanted, correction, NEEDED a warm body to get the job done and help keep them afloat.

I’ve long since retired from the Safety, Environmental and Health world, working from home as a freelance photographer.  I also took a job as a remote Test Scorer, eventually becoming Team Leader, Assistant Scoring Director and finally Scoring Director.

But I work from home.

The Scoring project is seasonal, so when I’m between projects, I’m spending the day with my beautiful granddaughter.  And I’m eagerly awaiting her cousin, who’s currently baking in the oven, due in December.

Because at the end of the day that’s what’s most important to me.

And from this point on, the only people who will remember my dedication is my family, including the new editions. 

Because I’ll be dedicated to THEM.