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As single parent, work<br>can often get in the way

I got sick to my stomach late Thursday evening while going through my son’s backpack and finding a permission slip for him to go on a Phoenix Zoo trip this week.

Although I’ll admit that sending my kid on a 14-hour school trip seemed a bit overwhelming at first, I wanted to sign the permission slip. Brandon had missed fewer than four days of school and it was a reward. Plus, the Phoenix Zoo is one of his favorite places.

The reason I got sick to my stomach was because the trip was planned for Thursday, the same night that I need to cover an out-of-town news event. Because of its length and location in Williams, I won’t get home until past 10 p.m.

The bus returning from the Phoenix Zoo returns at 9 p.m. Since I can’t be there to pick him up, it appears he can’t go.

This will not be the first time that my job has interfered with my son’s schedule. There have been several other occasions when he’s missed out on activities.

Most of the time, he misses sports activities. In fact, he’s missed the last three baseball practices here at Grand Canyon because of conflicts involving my job. The last two weekends, I’ve been in the Phoenix area covering state playoffs for baseball and softball along with the 1A and 2A state track meets.

Brandon said he wants to play soccer this summer and Ken Olsen took down his name. But I know he’ll probably only participate about half the time because of Saturday work.

Not only do I take photos of Grand Canyon youth soccer, but I need to get down to Williams a few times over the summer to shoot those kids as well, along with Little League. To get photos of the various age levels in soccer, the assignment can turn into an all-day ordeal.

The month of May is one of the busiest of the year for the newspaper. That’s mostly due to all of the school activities going on. When the work day runs into the evening when most school activities take place, my fun job turns into a real job because of long hours.

Last week, I had three evenings of work because of an open house, school play and a track meet. I was grateful that the school play was offered two nights instead of one because I really needed to just stay home Wednesday to help Brandon with his homework and get caught up on household chores.

Instead, we went the following night when he had no school to get up for the next morning.

This week is no better with evening events on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Of all the aspects of being a single parent, it’s the juggling of my schedule that creates the most havoc. I do have some scheduling freedoms with my job since I work alone, but as Brandon gets older, it seems to be getting tougher.

There are a few people around town who help me out from time to time. A friend in Tusayan watches him for me on school board nights. A friend in Williams watches him for me during sporting events he can’t go to with me (it’s too rough on football sidelines and you have to be quiet while covering golf, somewhat of a challenge for my son).

On Thursday when the zoo trip is scheduled, there’s actually a sports banquet scheduled for Grand Canyon as well. I chose to cover Williams because they will also be doing their winter sports awards and there’s more information to take down and more photos to shoot.

Living at Grand Canyon and with many students participating in more than one sport, I know I already have most of my Phantom kids on file. So covering the Williams event will create a less difficult situation for me.

As for Brandon, that’s a difficult situation. We’ll continue to do the best we can. And maybe every once in a while, I’ll just have to miss covering a news event so I can spend time with him or allow him to participate in an activity.

The single parent lifestyle has its hardships and sacrifices. Sometimes I think it would be easier to move on to a new job. But this is the only job I’ve truly enjoyed in my career. I’m afraid to trade it in for a job or boss I won’t like. That could create an even tougher situation for us.

So, we’ll deal with these things as we go along. I hope to keep missed zoo trips to a minimum in the future.

(Brad Fuqua is editor of the Grand Canyon News).


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