Hi Dr Laura,

I really didn't give it much thought but always knew I needed to be home and my family would always come first.

When I got back from Vietnam, I was married and just started in my career as an air conditioning and heating service technician. I was 20 years old at the time.

I married my high school sweetheart who was truly a gift from God.  We met her first day of high school.  She graduated on a Wednesday, we got married on Saturday and then I went back to Vietnam for the 5 months left on my tour.

We are still married and are working on year 42. We have two adult children and have been blessed with 6 wonderful grandchildren who we are very involved with.

When I was 25, I started my own business (MechanicalAirService.com) and my wife has been a homemaker. When I started my business, a good (older) friend of mine told me to not make the mistake he did by working too much and not being with his family. My family has always come first. I was home almost every night for dinner.  We had date nights.  We did things as a family.  Whenever I traveled for business, my wife and kids came with me. We traveled all over the world with them. My wife and I traded off going to the kid's school functions so one of us at least during the day was with them.

Our kids are now working at taking over my business. It was never my plan and I never discussed business at home or complained about it. Our daughter became a school teacher and our son was in the auto body industry when they approached me about joining the business. Our son-in-law also works in the company. I have been sort of a control freak when it came to the business but I have had no problem staying in the background and letting them lead the company. I have only been at the office about 40 hrs in the last 3 years as I work from home.

I have always believed I can start another company but I only have one chance with my family. We are so happy to have been blessed with the 6 grandchildren, a 12-year-old and 5 granddaughters from 11 to 5 years old. They are each very different and are such a blessing. We have all 6 every other Saturday night so the parents can have a date night. We are also involved with their school stuff and they attend the same church we do.

Thanks for all the good work you do.

Russ