Deviation Failure

This was a rough week. I was originally scheduled to deadhead from Albuquerque to Milwaukee Sunday afternoon for a week long trip. I had deviated from the original trip, which would have left Memphis on Monday morning to deadhead to Milwaukee. I prefer to go Sunday night even though it's an extra night away from home, to avoid the stress of early Monday morning deadheading, and to get myself in to a nighttime sleep schedule. Unfortunately, American cancelled my Sunday night flight b/c of tornadoes in DFW. I checked the weather for Monday morning and it looked good, so I rebooked on the first flight out. I would still get to Columbus in time to legally check in for crew rest for my live leg Monday night. I got up at 3:00 am Monday morning and got to ABQ at 5:00 for my 6:20 flight to DFW. At 5:50, American announced a one hour delay in the flight due to a cracked windshield. I knew it would take alot longer than that to replace the windshield and allow the sealant to cure (more like all day). I tried to get on another flight, but none would get me to Columbus in time for my check-in. I made the agonizing decision to call Crew Scheduling and let them know there was no way I could make it in time. I was removed from the trip (without pay) and went home. I eventually had to provide a justification for the reason why I failed to make it to Columbus for Fedex Flight Management. The financial impact was significant, being half a month's pay. Not a happy event, but I feel like I abided by the provisions as set forth in our contract to make sure the revenue flight was protected. I have only missed a couple of deviation trips in my 17 year career (the other one due to a record-setting snowstorm that was not predicted), but it definitely felt like I had failed when I had to make the call. This is not helping my stated goal of some day retiring without anyone in Flight Management knowing my name.
Of course, it could have been worse...there was a guy on the flight who missed a job interview he'd been trying to get for months. At least I'm still employed!