Thursday, June 30, 2011

Goodbyes as the norm

A recounted conversation (via text message) from yesterday:

Friend L: I'm in your neighborhood today. Can I stop by and see you this evening?

Me: Sure, I'm home after 5 and A is leaving for the airport around 6.

L: Should I come by later? I don't want to interrupt your goodby time.

Me: Are you kidding? Saying goodbye to him for a trip is as traumatic to me as you saying goodbye to F every morning. No big deal.

And it's true. Yesterday when A left for his trip (a 4 day) I couldn't even be bothered to get my rear off the couch. He got uniformed up, gave me a kiss, got a see ya later, and hit the door. His leaving for multiday trips is just so routine now that I don't even think about it. Meanwhile, my friends freak out when their significant others are gone overnight on trips and can hardly say goodbye.

Frankly, I don't mind when A is gone. And I really dig having the entire king size bed to myself (and the baby). It's so awesome to be able to switch sides and find a nice cool spot when I wake up hot during our warm summer nights. I've even caught myself wondering if I can come up with a reasonable excuse for A to sleep in the extra bed so I can have our bed to myself. That's a true confession of a pilot's wife right there.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I completely 100% agree with you! If my friends husbands or significant others leave for a weekend; you would think it was the end of the world...I usually just say "don't come to me with that nonsense; you'll be fine." I also enjoy having the time alone or to focus on what I need to do when he is not flying! Because my fiance believes when he parks it at the gate; the whole world is off with him...lol!!! Great blog!

Lori Lamb said...

Hmmm, wonder if I'm really all that odd? I've been with my husband 9 yrs and my role as the "Goodbye Girl" has never been easy. He gets princess parking both ways from me because I view it as an extra 30-40 minutes with him. I hate saying goodbye and love welcoming him home, counting the hours/days in between.

Is it really so easy to say goodbye to your husband? Is sleeping single in that big bed really more important than being held by someone who loves you?

I can't wait for my fella to retire and never say goodbye again. In fact, I now look at each trip as one step closer to retirement. If I'm the odd duck, I pray I never change.

Someday said...

I guess to each his own on this one. I doubt that either A or I would enjoy it much if I had to schlep both kids in the car to take him to the airport for a 5am departure or an 11:30pm arrival. Neither one of us would relish that 30 or 40 extra minutes enough to make it worth it. Maybe the 2.5 years that A was home ALL THE TIME while he battled cancer tanked me up enough that I can enjoy some time apart.