Amazing how often dh and I will talk about something and it's the same (type) of conversation that is going on at one of the pilot wife websites I visit.
Most recently on one of the websites someone was talking about how their friends didn't understand when she said her husband was gone for 12 days (or so) that he was really GONE. Not just that he was working 12 days in a row, and coming home every night. It really is hard to explain to people who have a 9-5 job.
On the flip side it's hard for me to tolerate people who complain about their husbands/wives being gone for 4 days a month. Now I know that this is probably a dramatic event for them, but really don't complain to me about it and expect to get much sympathy. In the same respect I wouldn't go on a military spouse forum and complain about my husband being gone for 10 days, they'd laugh me out of there (as they should) their spouses are gone for WAY longer!
The consensus of the discussion was that unless people actually have to live it they don't really Get It. I would have to say that's mostly true, though I do have a great group of friends who know how much dh is gone and really understand that when he's gone for 10 days, he's Gone!
My friends aren't quite there yet but when I do share some random quirk of being an aviation family, they do sometime look at my with shock.
ReplyDeleteAGREED! I put the following in my very first blog post: "Disclaimer: I have no sympathy for woman who whine, complain and post about being away from their husbands for the night. Or their husbands having to leave them and their kids for the day to go to work. I only sympathize and have MASS respect for Army wives/girlfriends. Otherwise, I don't want to hear it." Nothing IRKS me more then someone saying "I understand, my husband and I are on completely different schedules and we never see each other." Well, even when you aren't there, that means he still is and has the ability to clean, pay bills, fix things around the house, etc.
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