I have to give a lot of credit to single parents, parents whose spouses are deployed in the military, and parents whose spouses travel frequently for work. I honestly don't know how they do it.
My husband is traveling this week for work. This means I am alone with our child from the moment she wakes up in the morning until she utters her last whimper at night. At 19 months old, she is exhausting! If I had to do this week in and week out, I think my life expectancy would be cut by at least 20 years. Thankfully, my husband's job doesn't require him to be gone more than a few weeks out of the year.
I enjoy evenings with my husband. When "daddy's home" it signifies a milestone of the day. The energy of the house changes and it's like we all (the child, the dog, and I) take a deep breath and know that someone is here to save us! to entertain us! and to distract us from our crabbiness. My daughter looks forward to having someone else to "UP!", and I enjoy not being the only arms around. Not to mention the fact that I finally have someone who can talk to me in fully intelligible sentences... well, mostly. Even if he has to go straight to his office and continue working, I feel a sense of peace knowing he's here.
My husband thinks his job is hard. I know he works hard. He starts his workday at 6am and works until 5pm and often later. He deals with impossible demands and constant complaints from customers and disgruntled and uncooperative coworkers each and every day. But he gets to talk to adults, eat real food at restaurants (and often gets reimbursed for it), and since he's in sales, his scenery is constantly changing. And most importantly, every other week his employer deposits a whole buncha money into our checking account for his efforts.
Being a stay at home mom has much different perks. I wouldn't change it for the world. But I also am grateful, each and every evening, for my teammate to come and help me with this teeny tiny Tasmanian devil we call our daughter.
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