Well, I have now been a wife of a consultant for about 8 months now.
Here's a typical conversation with someone we just met/a new friend:
So what does your husband do?
He's a business consultant.
Which means.....
He travels around and works will all sorts of companies helping them improve. Anything from electrical plants and potential risks with a new power plant to retail store doing who knows what.
Well that's cool! So does he travel a lot?
Yes
Like Once a month?
Like Every week.
Every week?!?
Yup, flies out early morning Monday and gets back Thursday night.
Every week.
Pretty much.
How is that.
Not bad.
Really?
Really.
And it's true. It's not bad. There are definitely some pros and cons to this job, as there is with any job.
Pros.
He loves what he does. He's on a new case every couple months and works with tons of people all over the country/world. He learns new things all the time and gets exposed to all sorts of new information. He's a junkie for learning [awesome] so it's great for him.
His job is constant networking which could be potentially helpful if/when we decided to start the next chapter of our life.
He is racking up the frequent flyer/hotel points which means free travel for the rest of us. We also have the option of having me fly out to him instead of him flying home to me for the weekends. That means that I also get to travel the world. Our schedules haven't worked out to do that yet, but I'm planning on heading up to Seattle in the next couple months with Evette in tow to visit family and that beautiful part of the country.
When he's home, he's home. Back when Sean had the internship in Chicago he would work the normal 8-5 shift, come home for dinner, and then have to put in more hours. That was horrible. I waited all day for him to come home so we could play, go out, have fun, etc... but he would eat and then go back to the laptop to work for a couple hours. Awful. Now when he's gone, he works ridiculous hours, but when he's home on the weekend, he hardly ever has to do work. That means lots of good quality time without having "homework" on the back of his mind. I hated having him home but not being able to be home. It was hard on both of us.
In between cases there can be these magical weeks called "beach time." "Beach time" is where the husband gets to stay home andwork play with us until he gets put on a new case. Back around Thanksgiving time Sean had seriously about a month off. He had to do a little work here and there and show up to the office occasionally, but he mostly just stayed home and partied with us. It's was glorious.
I don't have to cook real food every night for dinner. I feel obligated to cook when Sean's home and I'm glad I don't have that pressure [none of which he puts on me] every night of the week.
The pay. Let's be honest folks, it's a pretty great deal.
We only have need of one car. Since he is gone all week he doesn't need to drive the car to work which means we don't need another one til we outgrow our current vehicle.
I have a lot of me time, which I think is important in a marriage. I get to put time into things that I like to do like reading, crafts, watch tv, etc.
Distance makes the heart grow fonder. 'Nuff said.
Keeping a strong and happy marriage when you are apart for half the week is difficult. Working through it has made our marriage stronger and has helped us focus on what is really important.
When the weekend comes around we really treasure it and treasure the time together. We don't take for granted the time that we have together because it doesn't happen all the time.
Cons.
It gets lonely. I do have Evette to "talk" to and keep me company during the day, but let's be real folks, it's not stimulating, intellectual conversations we're having. Sometimes I go all day with not talking to anyone else but Evette - and that gets rough. Thank goodness for great friends who look out for me, my mom that listens to me, play dates with other kids/moms, and just nice people at the grocery store/park that will have a conversation with you.
Communication with Sean during the week is a lot harder than I had expected it to be. First off, I hate talking on the phone. Always have. I'm not good at talking on the phone so when Sean and I do talk, it's about nothing really. But, I am getting better at it. We like to video chat as well so that Babbs can see Daddy - she loves. Unfortunately with him traveling all over the country and different time zones and lots of meetings and an early bedtime at home, that doesn't happen quite as often as we would like.
Sometimes I get scared at night. We have security system and we live in a great neighborhood but I do need to get to bed before my mind starts to play tricks on me. One time I really thought someone was trying to break into my house but it was actually just branches brushes against the window.
I don't eat real food. I see little benefit in cooking meals for just Evette and I. If I go to all the trouble to actually make a meal there better be leftovers, and with Sean not around, that means leftovers for 4 days 3 meals a day. Not joking. Seriously one time we made a big ol' pot of spanish rice to go with some enchiladas one Sunday and I was eating spanish rice with my breakfast burritos, for lunch, and with my leftover enchiladas for the next 4 days. FOUR. Sean wanted Mexican food again that weekend - I think not. No real meals means sandwiches, salads, yogurt, and crackers. Basically I am just lazy. Maybe I need to make a bunch of those freezer meals but in 1.5 servings so Evette and I can eat during the week.... now that's a thought....
I can procrastinate big time. Why do the dishes if I'm the only one home? Sean won't be home for 2 more days, that's 2 days that I don't actually have to do the dishes. Bad mentality. I should clean the house because I like it to be clean as well and Evette and I deserve to have a clean house even if Sean isn't home. Writing these out makes me realize that I just need to be less lazy.
Sometimes I am afraid that I will have a heart attack and die and no one would find out for hours and hours and hours and poor Evette would be here all alone. Sean and I devised a plan so that we communicate [call, text, email] at 3 various points throughout the day just so he knows I'm alive. If you don't see me post/comment/like something on facebook or instagram in a couple hours call me to make sure that I'm alive.
So there ya have it. Life as a wife of a consultant. Not a bad gig. Do I like it? Overall, yes. Do I hope he'll do it forever? No.
We're at a great spot in life and it's awesome. Just learning to make it work as best we can.
Here's a typical conversation with someone we just met/a new friend:
So what does your husband do?
He's a business consultant.
Which means.....
He travels around and works will all sorts of companies helping them improve. Anything from electrical plants and potential risks with a new power plant to retail store doing who knows what.
Well that's cool! So does he travel a lot?
Yes
Like Once a month?
Like Every week.
Every week?!?
Yup, flies out early morning Monday and gets back Thursday night.
Every week.
Pretty much.
How is that.
Not bad.
Really?
Really.
And it's true. It's not bad. There are definitely some pros and cons to this job, as there is with any job.
Pros.
He loves what he does. He's on a new case every couple months and works with tons of people all over the country/world. He learns new things all the time and gets exposed to all sorts of new information. He's a junkie for learning [awesome] so it's great for him.
His job is constant networking which could be potentially helpful if/when we decided to start the next chapter of our life.
He is racking up the frequent flyer/hotel points which means free travel for the rest of us. We also have the option of having me fly out to him instead of him flying home to me for the weekends. That means that I also get to travel the world. Our schedules haven't worked out to do that yet, but I'm planning on heading up to Seattle in the next couple months with Evette in tow to visit family and that beautiful part of the country.
When he's home, he's home. Back when Sean had the internship in Chicago he would work the normal 8-5 shift, come home for dinner, and then have to put in more hours. That was horrible. I waited all day for him to come home so we could play, go out, have fun, etc... but he would eat and then go back to the laptop to work for a couple hours. Awful. Now when he's gone, he works ridiculous hours, but when he's home on the weekend, he hardly ever has to do work. That means lots of good quality time without having "homework" on the back of his mind. I hated having him home but not being able to be home. It was hard on both of us.
In between cases there can be these magical weeks called "beach time." "Beach time" is where the husband gets to stay home and
I don't have to cook real food every night for dinner. I feel obligated to cook when Sean's home and I'm glad I don't have that pressure [none of which he puts on me] every night of the week.
The pay. Let's be honest folks, it's a pretty great deal.
We only have need of one car. Since he is gone all week he doesn't need to drive the car to work which means we don't need another one til we outgrow our current vehicle.
I have a lot of me time, which I think is important in a marriage. I get to put time into things that I like to do like reading, crafts, watch tv, etc.
Distance makes the heart grow fonder. 'Nuff said.
Keeping a strong and happy marriage when you are apart for half the week is difficult. Working through it has made our marriage stronger and has helped us focus on what is really important.
When the weekend comes around we really treasure it and treasure the time together. We don't take for granted the time that we have together because it doesn't happen all the time.
Cons.
It gets lonely. I do have Evette to "talk" to and keep me company during the day, but let's be real folks, it's not stimulating, intellectual conversations we're having. Sometimes I go all day with not talking to anyone else but Evette - and that gets rough. Thank goodness for great friends who look out for me, my mom that listens to me, play dates with other kids/moms, and just nice people at the grocery store/park that will have a conversation with you.
Communication with Sean during the week is a lot harder than I had expected it to be. First off, I hate talking on the phone. Always have. I'm not good at talking on the phone so when Sean and I do talk, it's about nothing really. But, I am getting better at it. We like to video chat as well so that Babbs can see Daddy - she loves. Unfortunately with him traveling all over the country and different time zones and lots of meetings and an early bedtime at home, that doesn't happen quite as often as we would like.
Sometimes I get scared at night. We have security system and we live in a great neighborhood but I do need to get to bed before my mind starts to play tricks on me. One time I really thought someone was trying to break into my house but it was actually just branches brushes against the window.
I don't eat real food. I see little benefit in cooking meals for just Evette and I. If I go to all the trouble to actually make a meal there better be leftovers, and with Sean not around, that means leftovers for 4 days 3 meals a day. Not joking. Seriously one time we made a big ol' pot of spanish rice to go with some enchiladas one Sunday and I was eating spanish rice with my breakfast burritos, for lunch, and with my leftover enchiladas for the next 4 days. FOUR. Sean wanted Mexican food again that weekend - I think not. No real meals means sandwiches, salads, yogurt, and crackers. Basically I am just lazy. Maybe I need to make a bunch of those freezer meals but in 1.5 servings so Evette and I can eat during the week.... now that's a thought....
I can procrastinate big time. Why do the dishes if I'm the only one home? Sean won't be home for 2 more days, that's 2 days that I don't actually have to do the dishes. Bad mentality. I should clean the house because I like it to be clean as well and Evette and I deserve to have a clean house even if Sean isn't home. Writing these out makes me realize that I just need to be less lazy.
Sometimes I am afraid that I will have a heart attack and die and no one would find out for hours and hours and hours and poor Evette would be here all alone. Sean and I devised a plan so that we communicate [call, text, email] at 3 various points throughout the day just so he knows I'm alive. If you don't see me post/comment/like something on facebook or instagram in a couple hours call me to make sure that I'm alive.
So there ya have it. Life as a wife of a consultant. Not a bad gig. Do I like it? Overall, yes. Do I hope he'll do it forever? No.
And a'course a picture of the Babbs. This is her blinking/winking while eating her dinner - too silly to pass up. Notice how little Mac n' Cheese is left compared to the peas.... hummm :)
Philip was gone all this past week and I had the same battles.... not eating real food.... not doing the dishes.... not cleaning up after crafting..... and I only had my stomach to talk too..... =)
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