Why Any Of This Works

Normally on a Wednesday morning, Professor Tyriv would be lecturing on some part of Elhal’s history. But I did not get that post written this week, because my wife was out of town. Sounds like a terrible excuse, but give me a few minutes…

Not to lament or ring my own bell, but my life is pretty complicated. I am a husband, father of two special needs children, an IT Project Manager, and a Game Master. Added to that I am a writer, game designer, and small-business owner. The only reason that the latter is even possible is because of my awesome wife, Florence.

Early in our relationship, we made a decision that by modern standards seems somewhat antiquated. We decided that I would pursue my career(s) at full speed, and Florence would leave her career to manage our home and finances. As it turns out, with two special needs children, that decision was the best thing for our family. Without Florence home coordinating therapists, handling IEP meetings, and giving the kids one-on-one time, they would not be nearly as successful as they are.

So this past week, Florence went away to help her sister who was having a baby. While she was gone, my Mother came into town to help with the logistics of getting kids to and from school, so that I did not have to take any time off. That was a great help, but on Saturday morning my Mother left, and I was on my own for the weekend.

Now, I am capable of taking care of the kids for a few days, but I wanted Florence to come home to a house that was not a wreck, or have her spend her first day home trying to get everything back in order. So I decided that for the weekend, I would do everything that she does to keep the house running.

I did. I did the grocery shopping with the kids in tow, I did laundry, I cleaned the house, fed kids, kept the peace, picked up things around the house, etc. It was a full weekend of work, and by the time the kids went to bed, I was spent.

What did not get done this weekend was any work for Encoded. No article for Tyriv’s Teachings, no work on the new master service agreements, no development work on Part-Time Gods of Fate, no follow up on the corrupted cache of the website with our service provider. None of that.

And as I was sitting on the couch, eyes glazed over, watching TV (because that was all I had left in the tank), I realized that Encoded Designs would not be possible if Florence was not managing everything else going on. There is no way I would have the time or mental bandwidth to dedicate to design and development, if it was not for my wife who takes care of all those things on a daily basis.

I try to thank her often for all she does, but it never feels like enough.

So if you like the things I have done: the articles on Gnome Stew, the Misdirected Mark podcast, the books I have written for Engine Publishing, Tyriv’s Teachings, or any of the things that are coming up from Encoded, know that it’s only possible because of a wonderful, hard-working wife who handles everything else going on in the background.

(Florence is home, so next week expect a new Tyriv’s teachings)