"You are coming to our game aren't you?"

"Huh? What? A game? When?" I asked absent- mindedly. I was multi-task­ing- taking attendance, try­ing to settle down the class, running down the agenda of junior Honors English that day. Now I was trying to take part in a conversation. Never a good idea.

"Tuesday," one of the five softballers in my class answered.

"Uhhh, I'll have to check my schedule," I thought about the stack of essays I hadn't graded yet. My belly twinged again with time-away-from-family guilt. I spend 10 hours away from home most work days without including sticking around to...