Husbands and Wives

My husband recently got transferred to somewhere closer. This pleased us a lot, but according to him, this is his busiest job so far. Which I think is true, his assignments before took him away for long periods but he got longer vacation time and when he's home, he's really home. This new job enables him to go home on weekends - but he has constant 'homework' and his phone beeps and rings nonstop about work-related stuff. Geez. Talk about being an underpaid semi-corporate slave.

Anyway, he has some office-related tasks that I can handle so he sometimes asks me to help out (sweetly). Yep, me and him staying up together oh so late working on his stuff. This is what I call making the most out of our time :: bonding over work!

Well, now he's at work and I have some of his homework. I came across an article written by one of his colleagues about a wife of a military officer (whose rank is wayyy higher than LTJG's). Since this article probably won't be available to the general public, I just wanted to share its essence to the military wives -- or to the OFW wives out there. I guess it applies to people in long distance relationships!

Husbands and Wives go their separate ways as Husband A and Wife A. After months or years of separation, pressure and change - they come back together as Husband B and Wife B. Their priorities and motivation may have changed dramatically. This is very challenging and often frustrating since these individuals process life changes differently. One has been dealing with pressures of war or work , while the other one is left behind single-handedly managing the household. This transformation make reunions difficult and married life tough to handle.

I really liked what she said, and I hope to be reminded about this whenever I feel frustrated about "forgotten" family priorities. Women (is this correct? Well, I admit that I am like this) tend to keep silent about feelings and hope that their significant others "sense" their needs and frustrations. But as the book says, Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus - they have entirely different cultures and languages. Throw in the complication of a military life or a long distance relationship, and you really, really have to work harder.