Home :)

Home is different things to different people. To George Clooney on "Up in the Air", home was the airport, a plane, a hotel, anything that wasn't his actual mortgage. There was a familiarity with being unattached to the ground and on the go. That movie reminded me so much of my husband; I think he has actually quoted some of the lines from good ole George and he hasn't even seen the film! His field travelling creates cravings for the Doubletree cookies, a fondness for Neutrogena shampoo, credit cards with thousands of points, and a habit for not making the bed. Even though he's got a liking towards these things and hardly ever even fully unpacks his suitcase, he still tells me he loves being home. I smile when I hear him say "I'm ready to come home!"

When he actually gets home, however, sometimes it's a bit of adjusting. Sometimes it's been 4 days since we've slept in the same bed and been around each other. I've developed a habit for stealing the covers, which I guess is better than whacking him in the face in the middle of the night which used to be my routine. I would say "I can't help it! I'm just not used to you being there when I sleep!" That might sound completely messed up to other married people, but to you field travellers or significant others of field travellers-- you understand!

This week is month end, and David's cousin was in town over the weekend, so he is home all week. It is totally fun having the husband home because its so different! It reminds me of being a kid and when my dad would go away on a business trip, which he only did every few months. Those nights we'd get to stay up late and have a slumber party in mom's huge bed for the night. It's kind of like that when David is home for the week. I forgo the housework, get excited to get off work, and think about cooking something for dinner (gasp). One time David surprised me and came home a day earlier than expected. I was so excited I screamed, partly because I was so happy and partly because I didn't expect another person to be coming into the house. It is a lovely thing to be together in the evenings.

Sometimes I feel like I'm missing out on a real life together since he's gone so much, other times I feel like this is our life and it really is pretty amazing so I should be grateful we are so lucky. When he's home it's like a mini vacation (once we get used to each other again that is! :)) but then sometimes I just wish we had the regular every day stuff together. Like taking out the trash on Trash day, or watering the plants, watching the Biggest Loser, or him coming to watch me teach swim lessons one night. These are all things that happen during the week, when he's in the field and only gets to hear about how exciting my life is LOL. :) I want to play softball on a summer league or kickball or take ballroom dancing lessons but these are all things you do throughout the week too, and we can't do them together since he travels. One of his coworkers has been a field traveler for 10 years... Is this really our 5-10 year plan?

All that being thought and now said aloud on electronic paper, I am super happy that the man is home for the week. Even though it's month end and he won't be here until late tonight, he'll still be here for me to steal the covers from in my sleep. :)

David

Here he is, my favorite field traveller... My adorable husband David. Yes, that's a lot of wine in the picture! :) We went to a wine tasting event last weekend. One of the perks of being married to a traveller is that they make up for being gone by taking you on trips or weekend excursions with all their travel points! Oh David would probably disagree and say that he makes up for that in other ways 'wink wink' but that's just the guy in him coming out ha! We got to taste all the local Washington state wines that were being judged for awards. David was in heaven. He loves a good Syrah or Malbec. I can't believe I just said that. A year ago, before we moved here, we wouldn't have known the difference!

The trips and mini vacations are super fun, yet being married to a traveller brings its own set of interesting dynamics to marriage. Although we've been married for two and a half years, we've only just begun to get into the swing of being married. Every 6 months it seems we've had a big change occur and then it takes some time getting used to. We both have had huge job changes in the past year and a half, moved, bought a home, David finished his MBA... And now here we are, finally slowing down and just being in one place for a while. Getting used to just being and being okay with things staying the same for a bit. Figuring out each other when it's been four days since we've seen each other. For instance, we made a deal that Friday nights are chill nights, since that's when David comes home and he's tired of being out on the road and eating in restaurants. He just wants to chill and eat cereal on the couch. By Friday, I am ready to go out since I've been at home all week and am ready to go out on the town. So we compromised and Saturday is our night to go out. Or the fact that I am home so I'm constantly organizing and re-organizing our house, so when he comes home he can't find anything because most likely, I've moved it. He may come home and there's not much in the fridge, because either I haven't gone to the store or the food's gone bad since I'm the only one eating it (oh but there will always be cheese. I adore cheese. And berries too!). I wonder if these are normal things all couples deal with just on a different scale. Or is this just the life of a field traveller's wife?

I love this man so very much. I mean look at him, he's a hunk! :) Here he is outside on our deck, after we'd had dinner with friends outside on one of the few warm nights we've had here in Oregon. He even cleaned up the kitchen after dinner and went with me to a local farm to pick strawberries earlier in the day. What man will sacrafice a portion of his afternoon to pick berries for goodness sake?! This field traveller is a gem. And I am lucky to be his wife. :)

Community

It's Tuesday and I am still on a high from the weekend. Don't you love it when your weekend is so relaxing that by Tuesday you still feel refreshed?! I took last Friday off from work and slept in, drank coffee (one of my vices), worked out and then went to an event with David and the other field travelers and their wives. It was an event to celebrate the past year's service excellence for the dealers, so I got to meet a lot of the contacts that David works with on a daily basis. I also caught up with the other wives, met one of the guys' new girlfriends (she was super adorable and sweet) and ate this yummified shrimp pasta. And who can complain, who doesn't love a free cocktail party and an excuse to wear heels?!

I crave community. Community with friends, with God, at work, with my church. I am still in the process of building this here. As a field traveler's wife I feel like I do belong to a community, but that particular community is centered around my husband's job-- and job's come and go (hopefully it's here to stay for a while in this economy!). I crave the kind of community you share life with-- people you are silly and fun with but can be serious and possibly cry with. People you go grocery shopping with and out on the town with, people you have over for dinner and are okay with eating leftovers. The kind of people that are family without necessarily being from the same blood. I experienced this when I was in college. As a part of the swim team at Florida State, I was surrounded by a close group that did everything together. Amy Lo is still one of my best bosom friends that I talk to weekly. Those people were my family and we shared experiences that no one else will ever "get" or understand. Like I'm sure the term "RFOC" or "Greatest guy in the world" or "taste of heaven" doesn't mean anything to the next person, but it means the world to those of us who shared our every moment together swimming and sleeping and eating and goofing off. We were a tight knit group that trained, ate, slept, laughed, screamed mad and got super silly with each other all day every day. After college it's different. It's not as convenient to hang out when everyone has jobs or boyfriends/husbands and then before you know it start having kids. You have to put effort into your friendships or they begin to slowly fade away, and then suddenly the group of amazing besties that you shared life with for 4 years is all over the globe and facebook is the only way you keep in touch (I love facebook, but it's not my idea of real community). It becomes more of a challenge to get out and meet new people and stretch outside our little box. I don't want to be like this. I want to feel uncomfortable and slightly out of place, because that means I'm expanding my ideals, reaching out to new people. I want my home to be a warm, fun place to be real with each other. That is what community means to me.

Since David and I moved to Portland, we have slowly been able to build community here with new friends. Ricky and Krista, Ryan and Stephanie, Tony and Sarah, those people are a huge part of our community here. I think it's hard for a woman (or anyone for that matter) to move to a new spot and find a new bestie, a ta-da friend who just "clicks" and immediately is a bosom friend. Krista is this friend to me. Actually Krista and I are crazily similar. When we moved up here, Krista and her husband Ricky were the first real non-field-traveler friends we met. Now she is one of my closest friends. I want to be more like her, really. She is super fun, incredibly organized (who carries around a label maker in their purse?) and just a happy person. She loves God and really tries to serve her husband and the other people around her. It's just so easy to be around her. Don't you love those kind of friends that you feel like you can just sit and be, and it's always normal, interesting and you don't have to fill the air with small talk? Last week we made a quiche because we wanted to be French and feel like Julia Child. It bubbled over and the oven started smoking, so we opened the windows and the oven, which caused the quiche to take an extra hour to set. At 9:00 we were finally eating our masterpiece. I am so glad I have a friend like Krista who enjoys eating quiche admist smoke-- and feels that it adds character to the whole experience of French cuisine. :) These kind of friendships are priceless, and her friendship has made me believe that I can have the kind of community I thought I'd never have again. Yay for new friendship!

"Month End"

Tonight is what everyone in the field calls "Month End." This means that all the field travelers and their regional management get together and eat a greasy but yummified meal, all the while counting each vehicle their dealers sell until closing time. Then they release the total number sold for the month, and you can read about it in the business section of your newspaper the next day.

Month end doesn't really mean that much to me except that it means David gets to be home, even if he doesn't get here until after 10 p.m. He usually brings me some left overs from their dinner, and while I snack on the PF Changs or pizza (or sometimes sweets from Cupcake Jones in downtown Portland, that is my favorite) we talk about our day. I usually dish about the office drama from my work or what it will be like having kids one day, or maybe about our plans for the weekend or how we are going to be more involved in our church. Yes, I probably talk about all of those things in one sentence and he looks at me like I'm crazy, but I have to get it all in because by the next day he'll be back on the road. :)

I envision month end to be a fun catch up party. If I was a field traveler, month end would just be a gab fest to see what everyone's been up to. It's the one day out of the month that the entire region is in the office, so there's lots of catching up to do. See, the field gets most of their people from corporate. Since most of the other field travelers get transplanted up here without knowing a soul in Portland, they kind of bond together like little kids with a secret handshake. Us wives bond too. We are like a little family. And while we don't really hang out all that much together, we have each other's back and keep up with what's going on. They all helped us move when we bought our first house. We get together for the Super Bowl or have Christmas parties. We understand the kind of life it is coming and going, packing and unpacking. I adore these people, they are special. So month end to me seems like fun.

I try to have the house clean when David comes home from travelling so he doesn't think I've been sitting on my butt blogging while he's been away (if he only knew!). Since it's month end tonight, that means I have about 2 hours before he comes through the door. I hear the laundry room calling my name...