Happy Father’s Day

I’m really looking forward to Father’s Day this year. Not because I need a new tie or because I want to eat my Cheerios in bed (though I would like a nice long nap that afternoon, if any of my roommates are reading this.) I’m looking forward to Father’s Day because I appreciate how lucky I am to be a dad. I know, this is where you go, “Awwww.” But it’s me who’s going, “Awwww” — as in awwwwesome.

For a long time, I was a pilot for a regional airline. Even though I didn’t fly those long transcontinental or international flights that kept me away from home for days at a time, my schedule took me to cities around the Midwest, and my hours were pretty long and irregular. A few years ago, I started Chicago Memory Booth as a side gig. As much as I love this job, it kept me away from home even more.

While I was building my careers, my beautiful family was growing. My wife and I have three children, two young daughters and a son who was born last September. Even though I spent as much time with them as I could, I was always working, always rushing, always wishing I was there to see the kids doing all the silly and fun things my wife snapped photos of with her phone.

Ironically, operating Chicago Memory Booth put me in touch with just how much I was missing. I was taking photos some of the happiest of moments that people ever share — weddings, graduation and anniversary parties. Would I ever find the time to get in front of the camera to give my wife a movie star kiss, or dress in silly hats and glasses with my glammed up little girls, or simply hold my son and smile?

Yep, I was jealous. But what could I do — quit my day job?

The more I thought about it, the more it appealed to me. So 15 months ago, I gave up flying to become a work-at-home-dad and focus full time on Chicago Memory Booth. I’m not going to lie, the adjustment hasn’t been easy. But I’m not alone. Work-at- home-dads are becoming more common all the time, and we’re finding more ways to build careers and expand our earning power. Even though the world has changed a lot since the “Mad Men” era when men worked around the clock and women took care of the house and kids, there’s still an expectation that dads will take care of their families. I’m glad that the definition of what it means to “take care of your family” has changed, too. It’s important to go to your daughter’s soccer games and know which is your son’s favorite stuffed animal.

Here are some of the things I’ve discovered since I became a work-at-home-dad:

1. Even though it’s a lot of work to make a business successful, doing what you love and doing it so you can spend more time with the people you love makes all the stress and hard work worth it.

2. Just like the people who sit in front of the camera in my photo booth, I may not always be smiling when the camera snaps the picture, but life doesn’t always happen when you’re “ready.” And that just makes the images more interesting.

3 to infinity… Having the flexibility to hang out with my kids while they’re young is really awwwwesome. You want to see the pictures of them on my phone?

So, to all you dads out there – no matter where you work — Happy Father’s Day!