Saturday, November 6, 2010

We All Need A Break

I am up before 6 in the morning and will be alone for the better part of the day. I feel like a single mom. A single, stay at home mom. Except I am not.

Stephens’s job is going to destroy us if this keeps up.

Where do I start?

It used to be a great job. He went to the office around 9 and would come home anywhere between 3 and 6. He was "on call" all day, but had plenty of time to spend with me and the boys. The only weekends he worked were drill weekends. He enjoyed his job and was generally happy in it.

Now? He goes in before 8 a.m. and does not get off till 8 p.m. He is being “volun-told” to work every weekend. His bosses have told him this will continue. They are trying to get people to quit and it is working. I want him to find a new job but it will be hard to find one in this economy paying what he makes now.

He will be gone all day today. I am beginning to resent him for as much as he works. He is working more than he is seeing his family, and in the military “family comes first”.

Problem is they are not giving him any time to spend with his family. He works almost 80 hours a week. Sunday is his only day off and that day is spent on his school work. He is going to school for his masters right now on top of this ridiculous work schedule.

I don’t think I am cut out to be a military wife. I would like my husband home for at least part of the day. I know I am lucky that he is not deployed, but at this point I think that would be easier.

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3 comments:

Amy said...

If it makes you feel any better, non military life isn't grand either. I would kill for 12 hour day from T's work schedule. He has been working 6am to 10pm 6 days a week and then 4-5hours on Sundays for months. And its bullshit. I keep begging him to quit OG but its hard for him to give that up for some reason.

He had his first day off in 7 weeks yesterday and it was crazy trying to fit as much family time in as possible.

The boys are beginning to show signs of him being gone too. That bothers me more than anything. K has always been a Mama's boy through and through but D has gotten much more clingy to me recently too. Its hard for them especially because they can't understand what work is.

So, yeah. Not alone. Full time, single mommy is hard. Having someone come in and make messes to clean up on top of that is totally uncool. T is a lucky man. Slowly but surely he is starting to realize that.

Brooke said...

I agree, we are a non military family as well and up until 2 weeks ago I have dealt with Garrett working Mon-Fri (with a rare Friday off here and there) from 6am to anywhere from 5-9pm, sometimes being out of town all week, and then working his second job on Sundays, and sometimes Saturdays and Sundays. My boys DEFINITELY act different because he is gone all the time and it is VERY hard!

Rachel said...

Non-Military, Husband working 3rd shift, leaves at 8:30p and gets home about 9a (riding bike...that stupid stupid frickin bike......) Then sleeps during the day. I am a single parent, stay-at-home mom of 2, at least for the next 5 months. It sucks. Trying to keep the kids quiet and busy while he tries to get some sleep, me not getting to sleep until 2:30am and waking up at 8:30a because some moronic person decided one night to shoot 2 bullets through our back fence. I'm exhausted, he says he's burnt out. Burnt out of what? Life is all I can guess. We don't say 'i love you' anymore, we don't hug. It's just empty and it sucks.