Chances are, if you are a parent you have a child playing some kind of organized sport here in the Tri-State. What if your child's team made it to the biggest championship possible for that sport or league.... would you be there no matter what, even if your boss said you could not have the time off?

That is exactly what one California mom was faced with recently when her son's team, the Petaluma National All-Stars, made the West Regional Tournament for the right to go to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.

Billie Ann Tomei is the mother of one of the players, Cole, and wife of the team's coach Trevor Tomei. When Tomei, an office manager for a CPA, asked her boss for the time off to go to the tournament, her boss said no. According to Tomei, his exact words were, "If you go, write yourself your last check." Tomei went back to her desk, wrote herself her last check, and quit.

Any parent who has ever had a child on a traveling team knows how challenging and demanding that can be, especially if you have other kids at home who might be in school. Some might argue that Tomei should never have been put in a position to choose between her son and her job.

Playing in something as big as the Little League World Series is a once in a lifetime opportunity that will probably never come around again for those kids. If it came down to it, I would have quit too. Being there for your child at what might be the biggest opportunity of his or her life is certainly worth it. How do you explain to your child that you are just too busy to watch them in the biggest games of their lives - would that extend to graduations, weddings or any other important life event? I don't think so.

 

More From WKDQ-FM