Having John Home...

Until June of this year, John very seldom watched his boys play sports.
We moved to this area four years ago this week - not by choice, but by necessity. John was one of the unlucky "victims" of the fall-out from 9/11...a senior consultant in the computer industry. Along with several of his fellow consultants, he lost his job late in 2002.
The complete story is too long and still too painful to give in full detail, but we ended up moving across the country, for a job offer that turned out to be a scam. Fortunately, we moved from the MOST expensive area of the U.S. (California) to the least expensive (Check out any survey in Forbes and our area will be listed at the bottom...).
While we are fortunate to live in our dream home, John was not able to find a dream job, or ANY job for that matter. As a result - he did contract work, out of state, for several years.
The worst was 18 months in Madison, Wisconsin. He was paid his expenses for his time there but he had to cover his travel home. So...he came home every two or three weeks...
I really tried to do it all while he was gone - school, work, house, sports...Bottom line - it was killing us all...I wanted help, he wanted to be here, and the boys just wanted their Dad!
So he came home...he took a job with a significant pay drop - an hour commute each way. In hindsight, not the greatest move financially but he made a knee jerk reaction. At the time - Cameron was playing on his final All-Star team for Little League. He just wanted to see his son play...

So today being Saturday, we watched our boys play...
And I watched him...I watched as he saw Jackson win his game 41 to 12. I watched as he saw Caeden score a touchdown (bobbling the hand-off the entire time but still making it in...) I watched as he saw Cameron practice with his new Pony baseball team - batting with one hand (still in a cast...) and hitting into the outfield.
I watched him watch his boys...and realized that he really is the best Dad in the world!