So This is What it Feels Like to be the Stay-at-Home-Spouse

My husband is off on an international trip this week. I’m working from my home office. Usually it’s me on the road. Actually, this is my first full week home in almost ten months. I’m always on the road.

This week, the roles are reversed. I’m the one doing the laundry, making the bed, taking out the garbage, walking the dog, watering the plants, saying hello to the UPS man …

…driving my husband to the airport

… waiting for him to call me from his hotel, wanting to tell him what’s going on at home

… and climbing into bed at night with a real feeling that half of me is missing.

The house feels lonely, especially after dark.

I don’t have these same feelings when it’s me who is traveling. I’m busy running from one thing to the next, a quick dinner, then more work from the hotel before I collapse into bed with exhaustion. The half-empty bed in a hotel room doesn’t bother me because I know it’s just a temporary place to lay my head.

This week has given me a whole new appreciation of what it’s like to be the at-home spouse. That’s a good thing. I’ll have more appreciation for all that my husband does and more importantly how he feels when it’s me who’s flying around the world.