Why is it that you are so concerned over keeping commitments to your employer but not to your wife?
I know that is overstated but it illustrates my point. I am an employer and I don't worry about someone needing to bow out of a function because of a family issue or appointment. I simply don't care about it. In fact, I think more of that man as a provider of his family and as a person for making the tough choice to put his family first. I am more likely to promote him, too. Now, if he does it all the time . . . that's another story.