Adventures in Cali

I am currently on a trip to California. I drew the shortest straw.. So I am 2200 miles away from home and missing my family.

My trips are usually shorter and If they are longer I can take my family with me. But this one was out west so I am coping again with the struggles of missing my family.

The trip started off well enough but my day of departure was mothers day. I felt like I was abandoning MrsD on Mothers Day. We did try to celebrate that morning. I got her a small but sentimental gift. We got to hang out most of the morning and then at 12:30 I had to get to the airport to catch my flight.

The trip was pretty uneventful but I had a feeling that some thing was going to go wrong.So at 8pm on Mothers Day i arrived in Fresno California.

I was picked up by the Project Manager and we headed to the hotel.

Monday morning I was feeling the jet lag. I woke up at 5 am thinking it was later and at 7 we went to work.

I usually train average workers to teach our software but this trip was special. These were "professional trainers" I use that term very loosely.

The day started and so did the questions. What about this... What about that.. Then I realized that the Project Manager did not communicate the expectations of Train the Trainer. So after day 1 was finally over things were not going well.

On Tuesday, we started with a different approach thanks to my over promising PM. When I woke up that day I had a horrible headache and a stomach ache that would not go away.I excused my self and ran to the bathroom and got sick.I pressed on...

We went to lunch and I could not eat.. I took 3 bites and new that I had to stop. We got back to work and I entered the room the class worked quietly on their presentations that were going to start that afternoon. I got a hot flash and booked it for the door thinking that if I could get some fresh air I would be okay.

I got outside and walked to the sun to warm up.. after all it is Cali. After a few second I realized I was going to be sick. I made an attempt to get up the stairs to the bathroom.I WAS NOT GOING TO MAKE IT!! So back outside I went.I walked out and saw my PM and he pointed me to the bushes away from the building.. I got sick again.

So my PM went inside and he got me some stuff to clean up with and with that I was on my way back to the hotel. This was the first time in 10 years that I went home sick. I felt horrible.

My PM drops me off and I fall asleep.

Meanwhile back at work the "professional trainers" that I mentioned we not exactly that. they began the presentations and it went wrong ... horribly wrong. They were fighting and the PM let it go on. So nothing got done while I was at the hotel sleeping.

Later that after noon.. I called home to talk to my wife. I heard the horrible news. My 3 yr old daughter was sick with the same thing that I had.

So here I am 2200 miles away from home and sick. I am 2200 miles away from my daughter who is sick. I felt horrible that I could not be there for her.

So I talked to my family and I went to bed and slept for 10 hours. The next day I felt great.

So I headed of to work and the day went much better.

If there are any daddy's that travel.. how do you get over the guilt of not being there for your sick child?

How to you keep in touch with your family when you are so far away.