I’m Leaving My Husband … Again!
It’s early morning, still dark outside, and I’m on my way to the airport again. I kiss my husband good-bye saying, “Call you tonight” as I run out the door with my luggage rolling behind me.
My busy workweek has begun. I’ll be at client offices through Thursday and then I head back home again. I keep extremely busy all week and the days go very fast – for me anyway.
While I talk with my husband every night, I am so busy with my schedule that I often forget what it’s like for him to be home alone. Though he travels frequently himself, I usually leave him on Monday and he heads downtown to his office.
In the evenings, I head to my hotel where I order a meal that someone else cooks. He returns to a house where the kitchen is quiet. He makes himself dinner and shares the time with our dog Toby at his feet.
He retreats to his home office in the evening, where we talk on the phone for an hour or more. He then heads off to a half-empty bed where he falls asleep next to my pillow. He wakes up and repeats this solo process each day until I arrive home at midnight late in the week.
He doesn’t say too much about my travel though I know that solitude bothers him. He’ll never ask me to stop traveling, but I know he’d love it if I did. He also knows that to stop the traveling would destroy my spirit as I love being on the road.
So we continue this ritual of me leaving him every week, counting the days and nights until I’m back home again and we can share a few days together.
I have probably left my husband over 500 times. Thank goodness he’s always happy to let me return again.
Reading your post was like reading my own diary entry. I have an identical situation, right down to our puppy. I believe the most important part you speak to that makes this arrangement work is the silent understanding you have that he knows you need that travel and professional engagement to thrive. Good for you for knowing yourself that well and even better for him for understanding. It’s a rare gift when someone accepts you and supports you for exactly who you are.
Thanks for the comment, Nicole. Someday soon I’ll post an article written by my hubby on what his thoughts are about having a traveling wife. Maybe your DH will want to include a few thoughts.
And I really, really wonder about what our dogs think. Toby sees my suitcase and gives me that look that says ‘I know you’re leaving again’. I miss both my guys when I’m away.
Carol
This sounds so familiar. I had friends in a few cities so would go out to dinner with them when I was in town. My husband would be having a tuna fish sandwhich and there I am raving about some new hot spot! After being gone 44 weeks in one year, I left that job because it was just too much travel.
Hi Haralee — I understand your feelings. Being gone the majority of a year is rough on you, on your spouse and on your life. I wish there were 2 of me … one to stay home with my husband; the other could travel every week.
Carol