My wife is in another conference this quarter, just came back from one three weeks ago in Kansas City. This leaves me playing Mr. Mom. When my boys were younger this bothered me because the responsibility scared me. Now that the boys are 10 and 20, they are fine and I can certainly entertain them as needed. When she goes though, my chores double. I have to wake them, feed the younger one, keep clothes going through the wash, make sure they have dinner (I work nights). Check homework, and all the stuff I do. I even celebrate a bit when everything lines up. If I can grab basket from bathroom, load empty breakfast dishes on top, come downstairs, start hot water in sink while I load wash, get back and wash dishes in one five minute span, well, gold star for me.
I don't see it as work, simply keeping my house in order. This on top of working a 12 hour shift 4-5 days a week leaves very little down time.
Down time is actually a bigger hassle. When everything is always so well orchestrated and flowing it's fine, but when we come into a block of free time, I get a little weird. I don't like being unproductive. Sitting around for a night watching TV, grilling is great. When we have four days off, such as Thanksgiving Weekend, man, I can almost hear the tick tock. My wife would rather cuddle in bed on a lazy afternoon, but I feel like come on, there has to be something we could be taking care of. I only take vacation from work if there is a trip planned. I don't think I've sat around for a week loafing around the house since 2008 when I was forced to stay home by my company.
I have always been like this, my first job after graduation from UT, was working at a warehouse driving a forklift. Within the month, I was in charge of the warehouse space, and even though I didn't have experience, I picked up the ins and outs of the forklifts. I was quickly working 12-14 hour days, going to work before 6am to avoid traffic and staying until after 7pm for the same reason. I would take a fifteen minute lunch break and be on my feet all day, to be young...
I am glad now, that I quit after a year after demanding a raise and not getting it. That place would have consumed me. Nobody was saying go home or only work 40 hours, but at $8/hr, I was a cheap mule.
My present day job has periods of unlimited overtime, and I do go crazy with the hours. I've worked +84 hours a couple times. But at the rates they pay me, they put a stop to it as quickly as they can. They say "everyone" is supposed to be helping out, not just you. This is so other people get in on the action, but most people don't like working more than they have to.
I can see and I know that I overdo it with work at times, but I thought that's what a man is supposed to do, make as much as you can for the family. As I'm getting older, I am noticing that there is no such thing as enough.
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