It's hard for someone working a 9-to-5, Monday through Friday job to understand a lot of what goes on in our business.
They never have to cancel plans at the last minute because a coach got fired or a quarterback got arrested. They don't have to work every Saturday from August to December. They don't take phone calls at home at 11 p.m. They don't miss the kids swim meet or dance recital to cover a game. They don't disappear on multiple trips a year.
My wife, on the other hand, is in the business. She covers a demanding beat (not sports) at a large paper, and as such has pretty much all of the same demands my job does. So sometimes I cover for her, and sometimes she covers for me. There's a balance in the relationship that would be hard to achieve with someone outside the business.
We just had a baby on Monday. On Dec. 26, I'll be off to the Rose Bowl for a week. A friend of mine who works for a major magazine commented to me that his wife would cut his balls off if he tried to do that. My wife, on the other hand, knew that such things were part of the deal when we got married. In September or so, she had to go to Texas for a week to work on a story and I stayed home with our kids. Now, would she prefer I were home? Absolutely. Heck, I'd prefer to be home. But neither of us ever wanted to be 9-to-5 people and we share a love for journalism and a belief that the enjoyment we get from it far outweighs the um, unique pressures, it puts on family life.
