I used to travel a lot for work. It ate away at me as a parent — until I talked to my kids about it years later.

The author recounts her experience taking a dream job that required monthly cross-country travel from New Jersey to Denver, leaving her family behind for one week every three weeks. She struggled with guilt over missing family events and balancing work and parenting. Years later, she asked her now-teenage children about that period, and they did not remember it at all. The essay reflects on the unnecessary self-criticism working parents often impose on themselves, concluding that the job was worth it and her children turned out fine.