Hello Dear Reader starting today out in Dallas Texas at the Dallas Convention Center is the Second Annual SQL Rally.  This year Sri Sridharan (@SQLRocks | Blog) and a cast of many other volunteers, click hear to read about these great volunteers, have been hard at work to put together this great event.  There are SQL MVP’s, MCM’s, the Microsoft CSS Team, and even your friendly neighborhood SQL DBA’s such as myself.

While we take a couple days to cram in as much SQL Learning and SQL Networking as we can I wanted to take a minute to say Thank You.  Chances are you have someone that you will be Thanking as well.  If we take a minute to ask the volunteers, the comities, and different SQL Community Leaders they would have someone to Thank as well.  So as we start our SQL Rally let’s start it off on the right foot by saying Thanks to the people that allow us to participate in events like these.

“So Balls,” you say, “who are you saying Thank You to?”

The most important person in the world Dear Reader, the person that gets me there so I can participate in events like these.

When you travel you leave your home behind.  I know not an earth shattering conclusion, but when you leave your home who is there taking care of it? 

When the kids were little they didn’t want to go to sleep at night because they didn’t want to miss anything.  They wanted to stay up and play, or stay up and watch TV.  I used to tell them that while they slept the whole world stopped, and it wouldn’t start again until they woke. I wanted them to be at ease about falling asleep.  They worried what they were missing, and I didn’t want them to worry.

As adults we know that is not true.  When we sleep we know another part of the world is up and active.  In the IT world we count on this.  We expect the system that we put in place to be used while we are not looking.  The whole profit model of the internet and “Buy Now” buttons work on that philosophy, things keep running 24 hours a day.

Life is like that too.  When you are not home, who keeps the show running?  Do you have someone that you can depend on?  Someone that says to you, “Don’t worry go, I can handle this”, someone that you have absolute faith in.   Do you have someone that keeps you from worrying?

1^st and foremost I need to say a big Thank You to my wife.  We have 4 kids.  She has given me a beautiful family, worked like crazy to support my career and my crazy hours, and she does an amazing job making our house a home.  Did I mention we have 4 kids?

I’ve recently taken a new job and I’ve been traveling quite a bit.  When you do not travel for work, then events like SQL Saturday’s, SQL Rally, SQL Connections, and the PASS Summit seem like just a couple of events a year.  Just a couple times to go away.  You say things like, “This will make me better at what I do, and besides it’s not like it is forever, it’s just a week or a weekend”.  But those things start to add up.  And when you pile on traveling for work as well, it stacks up even higher.

So when I’m gone I’m not able to help if a kiddo wakes up at 2 am tossing his or her cookies all over the bed.  If there is a noise in the middle of the night, I’m not there to go looking, and it means one parent is stretched thin.  While I’m speaking I can’t kiss a scraped knee or check out a flat bicycle tire. 

There are a million little thing and big things that my wife does during the day, she has a full schedule between family, work, and school.  When you take one parent out of the picture, then that day takes on a whole new level of busy.  Make sure the boys have lunch money, let the dog out, make sure the baby’s lunch is made, let the dog back in, get the baby off to day care, let the dog out,  pay the bills, clean the house, let the dog back in, do laundry, and don’t forget to let the dog out.  And that doesn’t even include things she needs to do for herself.  

The fact that she can make it look so effortless, is a testament to just how awesome she is.  So before I head off, I need to say Thank You.  I’m very grateful, and I want to say that without you to support me I wouldn’t get to go participate in these great events that I write about, it just wouldn’t be possible.  You’ve taken such good care of me that I cannot Thank You enough.  Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.

Hopefully I’ll see you when I’m are out in Dallas, but before you get there stop and think about who it is that is making your trip possible.

Chances are I’m not alone in this.  You probably have someone in your life that makes it possible for you to do the things that you do.  Someone that while you’re away, notices more than anyone else. Someone who is happy for you when you get opportunities, helps cover for you when you need it, and offers you the support you need to get the job done.  Someone that when you get excited you want to run to and share the news about <insert good news of your choice/>. 

Someone that while you’re away, notices more than anyone else.  Make sure to say Thank You.

Thanks and I'll see you out there,

Brad