28 Sept 2015 (282 days after The Day)

Well - Monday has come and the weekend has ended.  282 days ago every day was a Monday.  Every day was draining.  Today brings a new day... a new decision.  My morning was filled catching up on projects, establishing new directives for my staff, and helping move forward some challenges that seem never-ending.  I had a moment to speak with my supervisor and that is always positive.  Life is funny... we spend a lot of time at work ... but strive to focus on the family.  So, I have decided to ask myself a simple question.. if my family is really important... what have I done today to strengthen it?  When Samantha and I get married we will have 7 kids.  7 kids will want to spend one-on-one time with me and Samantha.... to build the family bonds.  On Sundays I used to meet with my kids for about 30 min each... I will start doing that again.  I called them "mentor meetings".  They were a safe and private meetings where we had real discussions about life and struggles.  This included things that were good and bad.  I think I will need to to ensure I have time with every child.  I also need to make time to spend with Samantha.  One of the lessons I learned about Jan and my marriage was that we stopped being husband and wife and started being mom and dad.  That was extremely taxing on our marriage.  I realize now that while we felt like we were doing what was right for the kids... it really was a disservice to everyone.