09/12/2026
I looked at these pictures of my kids and felt something close to grief. π³
Not because anything is wrong. Because it's gone, and I can't get it back. π
I worked 14 hour days for years. Up before sunrise, home after dark, chasing a better life for them.
I only had them half the time to begin with, and even then, I wasn't always really there.
Too many nights I was on my phone instead of on the floor with them. π’
I told myself I was doing it for them. More opportunity. More security. More than I ever had growing up.
What I didn't realize is that they didn't need more. They needed me. Present. In the room. Watching them, not my screen.
Look at these pictures. That little boy. That little girl. They're not little anymore. β³
Somewhere between all those long days, they just grew up, and I missed pieces of it I'll never get back.
Nobody warns you that the trade off is real. You gain a business. You lose moments you can't buy back at any price. π₯
I built something I'm proud of. I also missed bedtime stories, ordinary Tuesdays, small moments that only happen once.
If I could go back, I don't think I'd work less. I think I'd just put the phone down more. π’
That's the part that actually haunts me, not the hours, the distraction inside the hours I did have. β€οΈ
If you're in the thick of it right now, working hard, telling yourself you'll be present later, hear this from someone who did the same thing.
Later comes faster than you think, and you don't get a second version of today. π
What's one moment with your kids you wish you'd put the phone down for? π
Comment below, I want to hear it. β¨