#tourlifewife

[tourlifewife]

Taking a shoveling break getting all the snowy puppy kisses 😘 #MaggieMay #winterstormjonas

[tourlifewife]

Too late for me to come over someone else's house? #prepared #winterstormjonas

[tourlifewife]

#jonas

It hasn't even snowed yet and I'm so ready to hop on a plane to warmer weather. I'm taking Josh to Florida on his birthday. This was a super last minute trip but the new touring cycle picks up next month so it'll be a constant two years of tour after tour and it is incredibly hard to plan a vacation far in advance with his schedule. So last minute theme park adventure it is! T-minus 5 days!

[tourlifewife]

#gypsy

Fellow road widows. Lady Gaga has a new song called "Gypsy" and she wrote it for her boyfriend and it talks about her gypsy life and damn I feel like she's singing it to us, too. "I don't want to be alone forever. Maybe we can see the world together. I don't want to be alone forever. But I can be tonight" Seriously though. While we aren't "alone forever" we are tonight (and many nights) And that's fine. It's our life. Trust me, I'm never really "moved" by a Lady Gaga song but I could listen to this one over and over and over. Not sure what it actually sounds like on the album but her stripped down version on Howard the other morning was UNREAL. If you have a minute, try and find it online.

[tourlifewife]

I'm usually organized. But life happens and if this woman could come use her 61 ways on my basement and stock pile room in the back of the house, that would be amazing 🙏🙌 #marthastewart #marthastewartliving #confessionsofahousewife #tourwifelife

[tourlifewife]

Extremely grateful that she made direct contact with the wheel and not the drivers side door. The car literally looks fine except for the wheel well. Her little sedan took our tire right off. I'm going to miss this car. Kept me safe twice now. RIP ELLLIE!! Such a tank.

[tourlifewife]

#thenothing

Ever have that feeling there is a dark cloud just positioned right above your head? July has been that cloud. Card theft (3!!! separate occasions). HVAC issues. Car accident. I thought I caught a break when I realized I messed my husbands departure date up (I thought he left on a Wednesday turns out it was Thursday WIN!) So an extra day at home? I was on cloud nine. Woke up Tuesday to "fraudulent activity" on a card (at the time this was the second incident; the third happened today). Called, it was taken care of. Win! I finally got to see a band I've been dying to see live since I heard them. They were in town that night so we went to go see them. Win! On the way home we picked up Chinese food from our favorite vegetarian take out. Win! While driving home a girl runs a red light and hits us......FAIL. I've been in accidents before, sure. More like fender benders. Always ridiculous and absolutely "accidents". Two of those in my 32 years. Two years ago I was t-boned in my work parking lot. Guy GUNNED it into my passenger side. I saw it coming, braced, tensed up CRASH. car was fixed I was sore. No harm no foul (except for the guy who got a hefty ticket) But last Tuesday night...I've never experienced anything like it. It's still a blur to me. I was driving and my husband was my passenger. He was looking at a text from his sister-in-law when he said he heard a horn and looked up. He said he told me to "look out". I think I vaguely remember that. He said it took me awhile to answer him when he kept asking me if I was okay. I remember hearing him but man, that car rocked me. Tossed me like a rag doll. It took me awhile to figure out what had just happened. I knew I had a green light. Why is there a car next to me? Why are the curtain airbags out? Everything that happened after that is just a hazy blur. The "are you okays?" And the "did you lose consciousness?" And the "what happeneds?" I remember the neck brace and the stretcher and the ambulance ride. I remember the X-rays and tests. Luckily my husband was okay, just sore. I had, what they told me, were very normal injuries to that type of accident. Everything hurt. I had bruises from my seatbelt and airbags. The doctor said it would be a long painful few days and to take it easy. He was right. That extra bonus day I realized I was able to have with my husband consisted of him taking charge of the entire situation with police, insurance, tow yard, rentals and even running last minute tour errands for himself. While I laid in bed in and out of a pharmaceutical induced haze. Even when all he wanted to do was lay down with me. The goodbye the next day was probably THE WORST we've had in our nearly ten years as a couple. The short time between the two tours and the traumatic experience from two nights prior that was still very raw (when it hit us that it could have been a lot worse had she hit us two inches over) made this particular goodbye even harder. Not to mention he was hopping on a 14 hour direct flight to Tokyo when he was still feeling his pains from the accident. He handled everything like a champ. I went back to work this week. Forced myself to drive. But it's only Wednesday night and I feel like I may have pushed myself too far this week. Only 18 more sleeps until he's home. And I'm hoping only one more sleep and this cloud of doom that's been following us leaves. August, please start off good tomorrow? We'd really appreciate it.

[tourlifewife]

#ontheroadagain

The husband leaves on Wednesday for 26 days abroad. Japan, Southeast Asia, Europe. And like many times before I get into a gnarly funk before be leaves. Which is so counterproductive because we should be taking advantage of the time we have but instead we're both in foul, cranky moods due to his impending departure. Not too mention the last minute errands he always ends up running cutting into our time even more. And we almost ALWAYS spend his last night packing. I know, after ten years of this, there should be an easier more seamless process, but for whatever reason we haven't figured it out yet. Tips? Tricks? Anything?

[tourlifewife]

Home again. I'll never be the wife who does drive by's at the airport. My favorite thing to so is walk in and wait for him at the gate. He's home for two weeks and it will probably fly by but I'm happy he's back.

[tourlifewife]

#tourfamily

Over the years I've met so many amazing people through my husband's tour life. He mainly works for heavy metal bands so the tours tend to be incestuous. There's always familiar faces to catch up with. The ones where my own tour family emerged was on the summer festival circuit. There were a few girls I met back in 2005 and with each tour passing came keeping in touch more often to even a girls vacation in Vegas. Needless to say, over the past 8 years we've grown close. With everyone's busy tour schedules throughout the year I relish in the time that I get to see them. The one day a year I can see them in real life until the next time. Today is one of those days.

[tourlifewife]

Because the band my husband works for has been his main source of employment for 10+ years they are more friends/family than anything. This has allowed me to take a few pretty epic trips with them. Mainly, Australia this past February/March. For all the grief I give my husband about never being home, he truly has the best job in the world. He travels the globe with his best friends, and gets a paycheck to boot. It's unreal the things he's been able to see/experience and while I can't be there all the time it's amazing to experience the ride when I can.

[tourlifewife]

#guyshit

I'm a feminist in that I don't adhere to typical "gender rolls". I'm independent and self sufficient...most of the time. There are certain things that I like to call "guyshit". You know, the jobs that I honestly don't want to do, that typical have my husbands name written ALL over them. I'm not afraid to admit it. 

October 2011 we bought a house, and with it a lifetime of never ending projects. With my husband being gone all the time, I had to suck it up and learn some "guyshit". Mainly, how to mow the lawn. I hated this. I fought this tooth and nail. But I learned, albeit, with a scowl. Begrudgingly I mow the lawn when he is out of town. I stretch it if I can. Like now, he comes home on Tuesday (yay!) so I will forego the lawn mowing this weekend. 

Things break, they always do. Two weeks ago I realized the central air wasn't doing that great. It was blowing air, a lot of it, but not necessarily "cold" air. Luckily I have a brother-in-law who is a ten minute drive away. I only call in emergencies (blowing a fuse, basement taking on water, broken a/c) as to avoid exhausting him as a resource. If he can't fix it, I know it's time to call in the big guns. He helped me install a window unit and I've soldiered on. I even called a repair man (who took a week to call me back) which was a big step because I live in the eternal rut of thinking "everyone is out to get me/take advantage of me because I'm a girl". 

I just received a heat index alert on my phone yet I still have not reached back out to this guy. Well, because "guyshit". The husband comes home Tuesday. He can call him back, right? We also need serious landscaping work done (re: basement taking on water) and I refuse to call these guys to come and give a quote. It's ridiculous, but again, "guyshit".

I will put air in the car tires, I will change windshield wiper blades, I will take the car to get oil changes...but can't some things just be left for him to do?

[tourlifewife]

It's just one of those days...

[tourlifewife]

#tourlifewife

I'm not a writer. I don't fancy myself to be one. I came across a blog earlier today when, feeling frustrated, I Googled "my husband tours" to see what I could find that would make me feel less "am I crazy?" and I actually found one called RoadWidows. It was a welcome suprise. These women actually know what I'm feeling on a day to day basis. Some of the posts I could have written. 

Which, then lead me down this path. The closest thing I ever came to "blogging" was on LiveJournal and if I ever went back to read those I would probably be so mortified. I guess I'm going to use this more as an outlet or a "amiright ladies?!" type of thing. I know there are thousands of us out there, girls (and in some cases, guys) who say goodbye to their significant other for weeks at a time. They're off traveling the globe, spending each day in a different state, a different country, a different timezone, only to blow back into town for a week or two before they're at it again. You're standing there, in the dust, left to pick up the pieces of the last tour they left dumped out of their suitcase on the spare room floor before packing up again.

It's not a pity-party (okay, maybe sometimes it is) it's more no one really gets it but maybe you do.