My wife is a tour guide/tour director. I miss her. You see, her schedule sometimes has her working on my only days off or on the road while I’m alone on the couch. She’s excellent at her job, and as a result, she is somewhat in demand during the summer and around the holidays. During those times of year, I eat as well as I can without the qualified cook around (I make a mean mac and cheese); I watch car shows and superhero shows and documentaries on bands from the ‘60s and ‘70s. I can go for many hours at a time not saying a word (though I may mutter to myself occasionally). I am free for a beer with friends, and I make sure to explain to new acquaintances that I actually am married and, no, she is not a figment of my imagination.

Though I miss her, I am actually quite happy that she has a job that she loves, and one that she excels at. As a two income family, I’m also grateful that doing what she loves helps to make ends meet. Though there is an income adjustment during the off-season, the trade-off is that we get to spend a lot more
time together.

Now that the tour season is slowing down and my wife is working fewer days, we have the opportunity to recalibrate our lives just a bit. First, we start by introducing ourselves and making sure that we have
the correct spelling of the other’s name, then I move all of the things that I’ve stacked on her side of the couch, and then the fun begins. We can go on dates!

We can have breakfast together! My idea of breakfast is normally a bowl of cereal and coffee as I rush out the door for work. On my weekends alone, this generally doesn’t change, but when we are able to spend time together, it opens a world of bagels, lox, benedicts, and hash browns. As I’ve mentioned, my wife can cook (and, lucky me, she likes to do it), so our weekends can become cozy times together at home with breakfast, a rented movie, a good book, or just good conversation.

Dinners can be an adventure! From trying a restaurant we haven’t been to an experiment in cooking vegan “meats” at home (the sweet Italian sausage and the pastrami are indistinguishable from the real thing), our newfound time together brings us time to step out of the ordinary and do the things we’ve talked about doing. Movies! We can rent the flicks that we missed while they were in theaters or go see the latest blockbuster. My superhero shows will stack up on the DVR, but I’ll be able to watch them during the busy season. Plays! We can enjoy a night out seeing local theater productions, and occasionally, we can see a larger production that we’ve saved up for.

Just being in the same place at the same time is the best thing of all. As the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder. When we are home at the same time, even doing nothing, we are doing it together. Be it conversations over coffee, a book, or a bottle of wine, or holding her hand in sweet silence, life is good.

So I married a Tour Guide….and i wouldn’t change a thing!

Author: Dean Jackson