especially not me!
But the reality is we all have good and bad days. No matter what our circumstances are. It’s just the way it is. It would be silly to pretend otherwise. Or blog otherwise.
I had them back when my husband worked days, nights, and weekends for next to nothing and I was home with a new baby.
I had them when he chose to quit work and go back to school for his MBA. We lived on no income, had two little babies (one with a heart condition that had me in constant worry-mode)- and lived on student loans that we are still paying off.
I had them as we moved around while he tried to find his niche in the corporate world-
and I have them now, when things are easier financially but he works so much we never see him and are left to wonder if we should uproot the family to make things better, but leave all our friends behind.
I wish I didn’t. I wish every day I could sit in utter appreciation for everything we have. I wish that every second I could remember how incredibly proud I am of my husband for working his butt off to get where he is today, instead of getting mad when he can’t make it home before 8pm at least one night a week.
But on a day when an earthquake devastates Haiti, my eyes fill up for those that have it so much worse. And I give myself a good kick in the butt and look at the good. The sun is shining outside and icicles are starting to melt. The baby that has been fussing and crying all morning from teething and a cold has finally decided to take a nap, the sick boy is resting comfortably after his Motrin kicked in. The 6 year old just went to his rec center class to make beautiful things for me to hang on the fridge. Andy emailed and said he could hit the grocery on the way home because we are almost out of formula so I don’t have to try to squeeze it in.
It’s all good.
And my whining has ended.
And maybe, just maybe, I’ll be home before 8pm tonight. Maybe even before 7! (of course that means I’ll be doing work from home until midnight or later).
Still thankful I have a job, though!
woo hoo!
You’re not whining! I think it’s healthy to vent, anyway. : )
Glad for a better day!
We’re all human and get caught up in our own life drama – it’s called life. Kudos to you for sharing the bad with the good and keeping it real.
And our thoughts and prayers go out to those in Haiti…an unimaginable tragedy.
Although I have only one kid as opposed to four, I can relate on a different level. With a husband who works out of town and only comes home on weekends it can be a bit stressful to take on everything yourself. You do it well..and even find time to blog everyday…lucky for us! ( :
you are real and that is what is so good and nice about your blog. you don’t pretend to live in a perfect world where everything is perfect and nothing phases you.
I hope someone brings a special treat from starbucks your way to brighten your day 🙂
I’ve been that husband before. Working 60-70 hours a week with a 2 hour round trip commute to go from home to work. Even when I got home the office would call to work on problems OR to take care of problems at 2am in the morning. In fact it almost destroyed my family.
A quick word of notice, a marriage can only take so much. After a while, time with your husband becomes more important than the nice paycheck. I hope Andy soon finds a way to balance things out a little more.
I ended up starting my own consulting company 3 years ago to help solve this problem for me. It may seem like I’m working late tonight but my 75 yr. old father has consumed my life (nursing home placement & more) for the last 2 weeks with newly diagnosed dementia and now I’m having to work late a few nights to catch up. My wife stays at home with our 4 kids (2 biological, 2 adopted). Enough about me.
Now, on to the business reason I am contacting you. An eco friendly client of mine is interested in being listed under your SHOP section at the bottom of your website. I would love you to contact me so I can provide you with more details & negotiate a price for this. I can pay you by PayPal once negotiations are complete.
Sincerely,
David
Thank you for sharing this. It is nice to see that other people have this sort of problem, and I am not alone. And also for giving me a kick in the butt with this post, to be grateful for what we have and to count our blessings. Thanks again!
Hey Elisa, just wanted to say hi after I got your e-mail. Oh man I feel for you. Dave used to have to travel all the time and boy oh boy does it ever get old. And your kids are at such needy ages. Good luck and hope the endless work hours ease up a little at some point!
Love, Shawni
Whine whenever you need to – it’s your blog – and no one minds. Really. John is coming up on his busy time – it’s hard, it gets old and exhausting being the one to do everything. Great post – a dose of reality is good for the soul. ;0)
Elisa, I completely understand. My husband works for the railroad and when our son was young, he was gone for a couple of days at a time. Then he got into management and he is home every day but works a lot. It bleeds into our home life too. We just moved to Cincinnati Ohio in November and our son started his 10th grade year a couple of weeks ago. He LOVES his school and has already made some friends and is on the weightlifting team. My husband is in line to get the next ‘step up’ job any time and it could be here or in South Carolina. We talked the other night about him withdrawing his ‘mobility’ so we could stay here until Caden graduates. This next step up is a HUGE one financially and it is hard to think about turning down that kinda raise. I still don’t know what we are going to do but as a mom, I was cying because Caden had just gotten in the car that day and said how much he loved his school. It breaks my heart to think that we could move him again. I told my husband that when we moved up here, that I would not move Caden until he graduates. We are leaning toward not moving if the job comes open. There will always be other promotions etc. but only one high school life for our son. I know exactly what you are saying about the money versus your family life. I get it.