Maintenance Week

I love maintenance week! Its like our family vacation. If you don't know, maintenance week is when Bob's plane goes down for a routine squawk's checkup, and it takes a whole week! Which means... Bob is home and there is NO chance for him to get called out to go anywhere.
This is a pilots' wife's dream( I am so nervous now if I am using my apostrophe's correct!), anyway, because you know that your husband won't be able to cancel any plans at the last minute, because he has no plane to fly! For those non-pilot wives' your probably thinking, wow, this is what gets you excited, and I would say YES,YES,YES. Where other wives' may take advantage of having a hubby home every night,weekend, vacation, anniversary, etc., we pilot wives' must celebrate the times they are home. We don't have the luxury of knowing they will never miss these events, we only get lucky, when they don't! It's a bizarre life style, if you don't live it day to day.
Although, there is so many negative reasons given out there about being married to a pilot, or so many horror stories about their professions, I think its good to have stories that show the other sides. The ones with successful marriages, strong wives's, and honorable husbands.
I love that when my husband is home, I get so excited to spend time with him even after 19 years, I love that I have to appreciate our time together rather than waste it, I love that I still get excited for maintenance week, because it mean a whole week of uninterrupted time.
In our marriage we have the same struggles as anyone else,but I know that spending time together is not one of them, we enjoy being together, because other than maintenance week, our time is limited,and short, so we need to make it worth while, focusing on the bigger picture and letting the small stuff go. I am not saying pilot's marriage's are any better than any other ones', but instead of believing all the negative garb about pilot's marriages', I know a few of marriages' that could learn from our(all pilot's) marriage lifestyle.
Bob and I have to respect each other, trust each other, and enjoy each other. We have to appreciate our time together,and learn to appreciate our time apart. We have to be an encourager to one another,and experience our lives together while we are separate.
I, for one am tired of people either feeling sorry for me, or assuming my husband is a philanderer and a drunk. I hate the stares they give me when I tell them what my husband does for a living,I hate the dumb questions that come right after, but most of all I hate their ignorance about what my marriage is. I have a lot I could teach women, about themselves,and their marriage. SO I think as Pilot's wives' we must concentrate on the positives, support each other through the negatives, and stand by our man. I personally think, we have all discovered the best kept secret about a great marriage,quality time together, and quality time apart, its the best of both world's.I am not making light of serious issues that occur in any marriage,I know those things happen and its really sad. I just think there the good outways the bad,in our lifestlye. Many women ask."how do you handle him gone so much?" I would like to ask>"How do You handle him home so much?",
You live the marriage that you have, you make it the best one, you accept your choices, and live your life the best way you can. I love being a pilot's wife, I would never have it any other way,and if my daughter came home and decided to marry a pilot one day, I would tell her she is in for the most exciting, hard, complicated, exhuasting life stlye, but every bit worth the effort.Marriage is not about who is home every night with their spouse,or at every occasion, its about celebrating the small stuff, because all the small stuff makes up all the really big stuff!
And this was so not where I was going with this post:)