Day 16: Lot in Life

Day 16 of the Blog Every Day in May Challenge: Something difficult about your "lot in life" and how you're working to overcome it.


When I first read all the topics for this challenge, I knew that this one was going to take some extra thought.  I guess part of the reason that this challenge topic is so hard is because I feel very grateful for the life I have and quite frankly, I'm really happy.  But since this is the topic for the day, here we go...

Being married to someone who is on call 24/7 for their job and lives the life of a physician/surgeon is hard.  There, I said it.  When it comes to taking care of our daughter Eloise, I carry the load.  It's not that Brad doesn't want to be involved with everything but when "duty" calls, he has to go.  There have been days where Brad doesn't even get to see Eloise because he has to leave the house before she wakes up and comes home after she has gone to bed.  When it comes to staying connected as a couple, we talk on the phone whenever there is a break in the day, we text (a lot), and we always ask about each other's day.  However, it's rare that are phone calls don't get interrupted by a work call.  When it comes to making plans as a family or couple or even for myself, I'm at the mercy of Brad's on-call schedule or "regular" work schedule.  As most of our friends and family know, we drive separately to almost everything in the event that he gets paged and has to go.  We often joke that there no such thing as a holiday, a weekend, or a day off when it comes to his job.  Because of this, we capitalize on any free time that he gets and make the most of it!  With all that said, Brad is one of the most family oriented people that I know.  The reason that he is so successful at his job is because he works so hard and is motivated to provide us with a great life.  Only he would work for 6 days straight yet still spend his only free time building a swing set for Eloise by himself.  It's those long hours during the week that allows us to live this comfortable life.  It's those odd hours on the weekend that allows me to buy Eloise whatever she needs without a second thought.  It's those fancy dinners with physicians that allows us as a couple to make plans for the future that I know we will see through.  So, yes, there are many days during the week that I feel like a single parent or even a lonely housewife.  But, there is never a day that I don't know that Brad loves Eloise more than any Dad has ever loved a daughter, thinks her about every second he is away from her, and yearns to be at home with her.  When it comes to me, I know that Brad is always thinking of some way to make my life easier or better.  And when he can't, he tells me how he appreciates everything I do.  This is something I've struggled with since I first met Brad because I honestly just want to be with him.  I want to sit next to him, lay next to him, & eat next to him every night.  At the end of the day, we make it work and I think we are doing a great job.  We consciously make the decision every day to love each other, be best friends, and be co-parents.  As long as Brad has this job, this will always be something that we are trying to "overcome" and so far we are doing a great job!  I love you Bradley Kalins - more than you'll ever know.