Married To Flight School

I have had people ask me when I find the time to blog. I have a full-time job, a husband, and a dog. While I'm not juggling 5 children in the mix, I am also not laying in bed all day watching TV. How do I manage to find time to blog? Well, it's simple. I'm married to flight school.

Parker and I joke that he will be in training forever because he literally picked the longest training pipeline he could have. Any other route would have gotten him out of training and into the fleet sooner. He's been in training over 2 years and still has about a year and a half to go. That's the length of my entire college career. Parker graduated from college just like I did, but he jumped right back into school when he commissioned as a student aviator. This is his dream job and he is so happy to be here, but the school part can be tough on both of us. 

When most people graduate, they get a typical 8-5 job. That's what I did. I start working at 8 AM every day, and I shut down at 5 PM every day. This means I have 5 PM until I got to sleep around 11 PM to do whatever I want. I can watch TV, work-out, make dinner, etc. I have clearly defined lines of when I will be working and when I won't each day. Parker's schedule could not be more different than mine. Some days he has class until 5 PM and then comes home to study the information he learned for the rest of the evening. Some days he has a flight at 5:30 AM and is home mid-morning, only to begin studying for tomorrow's flight. Parker has the opposite of an 8-5 schedule.

This difficult schedule could be a blessing in disguise because we genuinely get excited to hang out with each other. We can't just spend every evening together that we want to. Parker made a commitment, and his job right now is to complete flight school. Because of this, we have become pretty good at taking advantage of the time we have together. Thankfully, the man has to eat, so I am usually guaranteed at least 15 minutes with him each night, assuming he doesn't have a night flight. 

Yes, it's an adjustment, but this is just how our life works. We don't really know anything different, so it's our job to play the hand we were dealt to the best of our ability. As far as blogging though, I'm typically not too pressed for time. With Parker studying/flying so much, I have to have a hobby to keep me occupied besides vegging out and watching TV all night. Blogging has actually been a positive thing for us because it allows me to focus on something other than the fact that my husband is just in the next room but can't hang out.

Right now, I'm married to flight school. This is just a season of our life, and there are a lot of positives about flight school. Exhibit A: He's still in training and thus not deploying yet. I'll take a 15 minute dinner each day over a 10 month separation any day. Like I said before, it also makes us appreciate the moments we do have. I may be writing this on a Wednesday evening with a pup asleep by my side and a husband upstairs studying, but it's not bad at all. I am actually kind of loving this stage of life, flight school and all.

How do you handle conflicting schedules with your significant other?