This isn’t so much a vent, but rather something I’m noticing more and more about myself. Monday was Labor Day, and everyone I knew had the day off. Well, except some of us lowly reporters.

I have never really minded working holidays. I’ve worked ‘em all, but now it’s starting to get next to me. If you don’t have kids, you won’t understand where I’m coming from.

I have worked the last 39 months at my station. My daughter has been around for 18 of those. The other 21 months, it hasn’t bothered me to work some holidays.

However, she’s to the point of always asking for me, always looking for me and staying with me when she sees me. It’s getting harder and harder to work these holidays when I know most people get them off, and I can’t spend the day with her.

Before you think it, or especially say it, I knew what I was getting into when I got into news. What I didn’t know at the time was how much my thoughts would change about my schedule before our little girl came into our lives. The more holidays I work now, the more depressed I get when I leave the house.

I don’t get nearly enough time with her and my wife. These last three years, I’ve worked three nights and two days a week. Our schedules are so different, I get to see my family two to three days a week. Take away my holidays, and I’m starting to get a little tired of it.

What many people don’t realize is we typically don’t get holidays off in the news business. If we do, we have to take vacation days to get them. I’m not even guaranteed my week of vacation at Christmas every year. If that falls through, I could wind up losing five vacation days by the end of the year. That’s half my vacation for the year, and I still have yet to take four other days off.

Something else you may not realize is there are four months out of the year where we cannot take any time off at all. Those are our sweeps months: February (my daughter’s birth month), May, July (my birth month) and November. The rating book is king during that time, and we must contribute every day. Those months make for the best stories, but three of those months have important personal holidays.

I love being in news, I love my station and I love the people I work for and with. What’s starting to gnaw at me is the lack of time I’m getting with the people I love more than anything on this planet.

Am I saying I want to leave my job? No. Absolutely not. I just wanted to let some frustrations out, and I hope there is some way I can score some time off soon. I need to be with my family without having to worry about who was shot, killed in an accident, or what city council is planning to do with your tax dollars next.

The public needs us to pass along information, and I want to give it to them. But my family is more deserving of the love and time I need to pass along to them.