Note from a traveling Mom

I LOVE business travel.

There, I said it.

I just love it.

Don't get me wrong. It gets old. I hate any trip over 4 nights. I hate the 2 week in a row trip. 

But overall I simply LOVE it.

I love the interaction with new people.

I love the "I'm so beat from my 12 hour day let me fall into this big fluffy bed" feeling.

I love the work I do.

What I hate is the double standard and the guilt. They seem to go hand in hand.

I always get that pitiful look from people when I say I travel for work. Oh, poor you, can't you find a different job?

No one ever seems to question when a dad travels. No one seems to feel too badly for a mom that stays home with the kids when the dad travels. I think because it seems more "normal".

But with us, everyone wants to know how Tom is doing. Can he handle it? Is he ok with the kids?

And then here comes the guilt. Am I hurting my family by traveling? Why is everyone questioning it? I must be doing something wrong!

Tom never complains. He actually gets agitated when I ask him if he's ok. He responds that of course he's ok! These are his boys and he is their dad! He can do this. Stop asking him if he's ok!

Now I'm not saying I don't miss my boys when I'm gone. I miss them terribly. If we didn't have video chat I think I'd be singing a different tune. But I think the travel refreshes our relationships. It definitely does for me. I can take the boys for granted at times, and traveling snaps me back into the moment. It makes me cherish every moment we spend together as a family (even the challenging ones full of whining, tantrums and tears!). It's kinda like how I actually enjoy living away from my family. It makes the time we do see each other AN EVENT. A vacation. Where we only focus on each other. The distance removes the nuisance of every day life getting in the day. 

So don't feel bad for me when I travel. I love it and my family supports me. And that's all that matters.

Note: Mom this post isn't directed at you. You (and my close family and friends) are allowed to worry about me when I'm traveling and ask me if I am juggling it all ok! Please don't stop. This is more about people who don't know us well and automatically assume I travel because that is the only job I could find!

I love me some video chats!

I can even watch him get into trouble from afar!