Love is spelt T-I-M-E

I was always very ambitious in my career, trying to carve the best professional path I could. It was partly for my own satisfaction and partly to help us get out of the escalating debt we were subjecting ourselves to. I wanted to establish a secure future for my family so we could reduce stresses that were dragging us down.

I knew there would have to be a period of hardship to endure before we could reap the rewards of our labours. I worked every hour I could, including evenings and weekend in an effort to provide. Eventually working 60 hours a week became the norm.

Through guilt of not being at home I lavished my children with material trinkets to try and justify my lack of involvement in their daily lives. I tried to buy their affections by providing a nice house and treated them to holidays whenever I could to give us some quality time, but it never felt enough. I created a perpetual cycle of having to work more to pay for the guilt of not being there.

It was only in more recent years, when my daughters were adults themselves that I realised children spell the word love T-I-M-E. I got things so badly wrong during their upbringing, they didn’t need material gratification they needed my time. In my quest to provide I couldn’t see the missing ingredient that would show them that I loved them.

Naturally if I could turn the hands of time and replay my life things would be different but I can’t, those missing years can never be replaced nor the experiences that could have been shared.

http://www.mikebowden.uk/