Damn, we're working right steady this tour.
This has been the longest month of my sea time since I left deep draught shipping last year... it's not that I've been remarkably busy, though we have been busy; it's not that the weather's been rotten, or I'm bored. I just miss my wife really, really badly this tour, for some reason.
Everyone's got their coping mechanisms. One big pleasure for me is that working inland and near coastal as we do, I get to talk to Inappropriately Hot Foreign Wife twice a day. Morning and night, which makes me feel like I'm still participating in family activities. We don't talk for long- maybe 10 minutes a day, but those 10 minutes are the high point of my day, for certain, and that's how it should be, of course.
It used to bother me that one officer that I sailed with before would talk to his wife and 4 kids maybe once a month or so when we were in port at least once a week, sometimes more. I was fearful that I'd fall into that sort of living situation when and if the time came that I got married. I'm not a big phone person. I can see the potential in our living situation for a husband and wife to grow apart, with the greater independence required in our living situations. So far, though, I seem to be having a 1-week mini honeymoon every time I come home. I hope that in 10 years this will still be the situation.
In the meanwhile, work continues. We are loading a parcel of black oil destined to fuel up a reefer ship in Philly tomorrow evening, and after that, this tour will be done. Amen.
I can't help but wonder how other sailors handle checking in with the fam... international voyages, of course, change things, but
Why you should always clean your tools after using them
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2 comments:
When I'm traveling - especially in a different time zone to the wife, I text/sms. The message is waiting in the ether for her to pick it up whenever, as is the reply.
Its short, sweet and to the point, even if it is just a 'thinking of you'.
My wife and I have been doing pretty much the same thing for the last 37 years. Even working inland back in the day, (Christ I'm older than I thought) I couldn't always get to a phone that was safe and working very often, sometimes for days. The cellphone has helped a lot. As for the mini honeymoon, yup, love that. Just about the time she gets weary of my barging around the house, it's time to pack up and head out. It's not any easier, but it's sure not as hard as it once was. I'm one of the lucky ones, she looks forward to me coming home at the end of the hitch.
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