Being Married To A Commercial Pilot

I don't get too deep on the blog. It's just not my cup of tea. I don't need to chit chat about our personal life, disagreements, where my kids are going to school, take pictures of myself and show people what I'm wearing, etc. It's just never been my thing. My blog is light and airy and a scrapbook for our kids. I used to scrapbook years ago and I just find myself not interested in it anymore. I love that our kids can come back to the good ole' blog and see pictures and read what we've been up to.

I get asked a lot (not in blog land but in personal life) about what it's like being married to a commercial pilot. It's like any other job. It's just like asking someone what it's like being married to salesman, doctor, lawyer, etc. Our life is just a little different. 

There is a sense of pride I feel for Todd. I feel proud that he's mine. I feel proud that he's so smart and responsible to fly an airplane carrying passengers every week. There's a sense of pride I feel knowing that he has been employed at the same airline for 19 years. I feel proud that he's responsible to stay employed at one place to acquire retirement, provide for us, and give stability to his kids.

With all of that pride comes so much uncertainty. Our kids miss their dad. It's not all roses explaining to your almost 5 year old that Daddy IS done with work but he can't find a way to get home. It's hard explaining to your sweet girl that Daddy's commute to work stinks. There's no other way to put it. It doesn't matter how much someone likes their job, it stinks. It's not fun finishing work and then not getting home until 5-6 hours later, all due to flight schedules. There's a sadness that comes with consoling a crying child every single week explaining that Daddy leaves because it's his job and that's just the nature of it. It's hard telling a sweet blue eyed preschooler that Daddy DOES in fact live at home and Chicago is not where he lives. It's hard telling your kids that Daddy loves them so so much and he's so sorry he can't make it to the preschool program but Mommy will be there bearing the camera and video camera and will juggle them with both hands. It's hard answering questions like "why don't you just live in a base city?" If people only knew that you change bases when you change planes. You don't know how long you'll be in a base.

With that sadness, there comes joy in telling your kids that we are headed to Chicago for a fun weekend in the city. It's fun taking off for Disneyworld often and going on fun vacations. It's so fun seeing their faces light up when we leave town every 6-8 weeks. Their little worlds will be filled with culture and excitement in seeing new places. We are adamant that we will never live in a bubble and they will be exposed to this great big world. It's exciting that their Daddy could potentially fly international flights and we can tag along. It's so fun knowing we can get on a flight at the very last minute and find a new fun destination to explore.

Oh but with that fun excitement comes the pit in the stomach that every pilot's wife fears. We fear that someone will take over the plane and Daddy will not be okay. We fear another 9/11. We grieve for those families who were told the awful news that day. We grieve for all of those families that have lost loved ones in any plane crash.

But yet we are so dang proud. We are so proud. People often think we live in a rosy bubble and all we do is travel. Our sweet Daddy gets so offended. People don't realize that pilots qualify for government assistance their first year on the pay scale. People don't realize how difficult it is to accumulate so many flight hours. People don't realize the expense. Oh the expense of flight training. Todd lived in a hangar, yes a hangar. He has lived in crash pads for years in different cities. At the age of almost 44, it's about dang time he can enjoy his career and life. We are so lucky he's ours. We are so lucky that he shows us by example what it means to have good work ethic. We are blessed he shows us that you can work hard but also have so much fun. We are so blessed he's taking us to the beach this month and Disney the following month. He's ours and for that we are forever grateful.