It’s uncanny in the most tragic way that historically and without fail, my business travel in the winter time intersects almost exactly with the weather forecasters shouting that a storm is coming. My business travel is not optional, for the most part, however a lot of it can be scheduled around my personal calendar. That said, it cannot be scheduled around mother nature’s calendar apparently. And no one knows this better than my wife, whom I have now stranded at home with an infant on countless occasions. This particular trip took me many miles away, across the nation to Portland, where the climate was temperate at best, and a bit chilly at worst. Back home, where my eight month old lives, the skies dumped nearly a foot of snow, rendering many local roads impassable, our condo parking lot treacherous, and the idea of walking our dog and bundling up the stroller a nightmare. Though the feeling of stress my wife was surely feeling was tangible, it cannot be discounted the similar stress and feeling of helplessness that I feel despite being in a cozy and warm meeting room environment. Business trips and travel in general can surely be stressful, though admittedly, none of this kind of stuff has ever felt stressful to me. But now, now that my life has changed so dramatically, I finally feel the stress of being away and the desire to race home at my first opportunity.
