Well I guess it's a good thing then that I am not overly romantic - because for us there will be no romantic dinner/picnic/movie night, there'll be no dirty weekend in a lavish hotel, no champagne and strawberries...because pilots - well, they miss everything, and I mean EVERYTHING.
From weddings and funerals to birthdays and family events - if you live with a pilot the chances are they have attended roughly 10% of these events. Friends and family members eventually stop asking if you will both be attending and revert to 'it would be great if your husband could make it, but we won't count on it' when sending out any invitation.
To be honest I'm surprised my husband was there when we got married. I am pretty certain if there was a legal way to get married without the two people being present before the judge, we would have been married via Skype, or maybe even just a quick Whatsapp text message.
My husband and I were introduced to one another by a mutual friend - you guessed it - another pilot. He has one of the most successful relationships I have seen in aviation (largely due to his power house of a wife who takes everything in her stride - but we won't tell him that), so I should have known his match-making skills would be pretty spot on. He clearly saw two complete nut cases and figured the only way to save any sane person from having to deal with either of them was to pair them off together...it worked!
After the initial introduction we did not really see much of one another until a few months later - when we would find ourselves working together and our relationship blossoming....in Timbuktu, Mali - not the most romantic place on earth I must add (it's pretty tough to come across as sexy or cute in a 45 degree sand pit).
Its now almost ten years later (it seems neither of us were focused enough to remember exactly when we met), and whilst much has changed - much has remained the same.
So on our first wedding anniversary I find myself sitting in Serbia (Eastern Europe - next to Bulgaria - NOT Siberia in Russia), whilst my husband sits on almost the exact opposite side of the world, in Nadi, Fiji. Since January of this year we have spent a whopping sum total of six weeks together when I went down to Fiji for the 'island experience'.
So this is the life of a pilots wife/husband/partner, amazing adventures and soul-destroying times apart. Along with the roses come the thorns. It is a journey that has seen us through some incredible countries and places that one would never visit on their 'bucket list holiday destination list'. Through it all there have been good times and bad, break ups and make ups, friends passing away and friends creating families. I have met pilots and their partners who have become family, even though our paths may not cross often. It is a life that few truly understand but that many easily pass judgement on.
Are the hardships and heart ache worth it? Would I do it all again? I can honestly say - absolutely!
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