As I tucked my 11-year-old daughter into bed she looked up at me with those big brown eyes and asked, “Where were you this week, Daddy?” With a bit of confusion I replied, “I wasn’t gone, I’ve been here all week.” She innocently blinked those long eyelashes of hers and inquired, “Well, why didn’t I ever see you?”

I have to tell you that this shot was harder than any I had taken playing football in high school and college. My absence from our home had become so normative that it wasn’t even a topic of discussion the entire week. My wife, must have been avoiding the conversation with our children so that they would not wonder why my work responsibilities seemed more important than they were.