Lessons from a Recycled Robot

Today I had the joy of working on a school project with Emma. As we were working on her Recycled Robot a few thoughts came to mind. The first being that we were actually making a pretty cool robot, and she was really creative with all of the things she wanted to build with our box of recyclables. Second I began to think how nice it will be to spend more time with Emma following our move. You see, right now as with a lot of Americans I work a lot of hours and I work a very hectic schedule. There are weeks that I work such an opposite schedule of Emma that I don't even get to see her. One stretch that I worked last month, I logged SIX hours with my daughter over five days.

I inherited a very strong work ethic from my father. For all my life my Dad has worked very hard. As a young boy I watched and decided that that was how things were supposed to be. Dad hammered out twelve plus hour days like they were nothing, traveled for weeks at a time and I don't really ever recall him complaining about it. When he was home he always made time for me and that has been what drives me. I want to be like my Dad!

The lesson from today however found my questioning why do we do it. Why do I pay a phenomenal nanny close to $1000 a month so that my wife and I can go to work. I know obviously that we need money for bills and what not, but when does it end. I have a house full of stuff, that to be perfectly honest I am not home enough to truly enjoy. Emma has tons of toys, but a couple of times now she has told both my wife and myself that she doesn't want new toys if we could just stay home. How did my Dad balance all of it? How do you balance it?

With the move to Sweden I am going to reinvent my family. I want the only thing money can't buy. I want TIME with my Queens. I will still work hard. I will probably have to work harder to make my way as a foreigner, but I will do it smarter. I will not accept that I have to miss Emma growing up, to provide for my family. I will still try to be like my Dad, he always made time for me.

So a quick thank you to Lili the robot for reminding me what it is supposed to be about. And a thank you to Emma for asking me to help with her Recycled Robot project. I am glad that on this occasion I made the time, like my Dad always did for me.