Looooooonnnnnggggg Distance

Well as I have mentioned before my wife is now living 5000 miles away from me with her sister thanks to government policy. This was something we always new was a possibility and it was no surprise. We did try to plan for it and mentally prepare for the challenge. But I have to say it certainly is more of a pain going through it than talking about it. Most people consider a couple hour drive or more to be long distance; we have an ocean an most of 2 continents between us. Not only that, but unless I am in New York there is no direct way to get there. I have to take a connection and normally a long layover somewhere. As Northwest is the main outfit in the Twin Cities that is normally Amsterdam (no the layovers are not long enough to go into town and party, just long enough to make you super tired). I think the hardest time I have with the situation are the few nights a month I actually spend at my own house. It is really weird to go to bed in our bed and be alone. I am used to waking up in hotels by myself, that part comes with my job.

I don’t think our relationship has suffered yet. So that is an amazing blessing. We still talk at least once a day, if not more. Many days we also email, chat, or send text messages back and forth as well. I am very glad I live in the time that I do. I can not imagine living this far apart even twenty years ago. Back then you could maybe make a phone call once a week and had to wait weeks for mail to make it over the ocean. What would be even worse would be before telephones. If our only option for communications was actual mail this would be really difficult. Not that I really think it is the ideal situation now. The biggest challenge is actually figuring out when we can talk on the weekends. During the week I talk to RG before she goes to work in the morning as I am getting ready to go to sleep. On the weekends she likes to sleep in and I alternate from being very busy to doing nothing, so we have to figure out when we will both have time. This can also be the case on days when I travel. Sometimes we skip a day, but I don’t like to do it. First I tend to miss her more then, and second she can get really cranky if she thinks I am blowing her off. Then I have to spend the first 15 minutes of the next call getting her into a decent mood again - though she does seem to get in a better mood after we start to talk for a while.

I found it amusing when I went through my yearly evaluation because my raise this year was pretty good, but by my calculations it should really just cover my traveling to meet up with RG in Moscow. I actually laughed in my compensation meeting and told that to the partner that is in charge of my counseling tree. I didn’t consider it a bad thing, just ironic. So really that is how we are handling it, bugging each other several times a day scheduling phone calls at weird times, and me traveling ½ around the world when possible. I have been to Moscow twice now. Hopefully it won’t last for that long. I really would rather just return home Thursday night and then spend the weekend with her like before, but what can you do. When I find my self feeling sorry for myself I still have to remind me that we are very lucky people. We have the means to stay so close from so far, and I am able to see her on a semi-regular basis. Though if I can do anything about it I will try to make it more often.