Checknin, I agree with everything above, but I've got a commuter's input. My wife and kids got embedded in the town I was flying with the reserves out of and we haven't left. I've commuted my whole ten years at Fedex and have made the choice to wait to upgrade until I was fairly senior. I've made ervy important event for the family also, but it has been a bit more work than it would have been had I lived in domicile.
I'm now based at LAX and have just a few hour drive to get to the airport, but I still try to bid double deadhead as much as possible so I can avoid driving into LA.
As far as keeping in touch on the road, two words. Skype and Apple's IChat are invaluable for keeping in touch (I've found the Intl cell phones prohibitively expensive). Skype is free to download, costs about two cents a minute to call a regular phone, and is free to call a computer. Being able to see the gangs faces (and let them see me) with IChat is great. You can even help with the homework. I know one guy who turn on the IChat when he gets to his room, while his wife has it turned on on a computer in their dinette area, and he and his wife just talk away while she is puttering around the house (maybe too much face time?).
I've also found sending a lot of postcards and showing the kids where I'm going or where I've been with Google Earth makes things interesting for them.
Good luck with the career.