Anyone who knows my husband knows his passion for men's softball. Did I say passion? I meant obsession. Almost as soon as he stopped playing baseball as a teenager he started playing in the local men's modified-pitch leagues, which were your typical Sunday afternoon beer leagues. I played the part of supportive wife, videotaping his games (with the 15lb camera - this was the pre-digital age) and making nice with the other wives & girlfriends. One league soon turned into three, and he began to play three to four times per week. Then the travel teams started. Again, I didn't mind so much as we had no children, and I was able to go with him to such exotic locations as Salisbury, MD and York, Penn. Woohoo!
I really did enjoy watching the games, as a former player myself, and cheered right along with them as they won. I loved the fact that those teams were mostly cops and lawyers, with the cops generally being the better athletes (of course...). Some of SI's more illustrious legal minds (including a certain pair of brothers who were well on their way to becoming famous & successful sports agents) fighting it out with teams that boasted felons and slackers...fun for all!
Then the kids came, and accompanying him on road trips became tortuous. Stuck in the middle of nowhere, with a child running a fever and screaming for home? Do that a few times and it's time to give up the traveling.
So for the past few years, he spends his summer weekends off with the boys, and I am home...with the kids, laundry, cleaning, etc. Not that I'm bitter. Not at all. What I've done is developed some strategies for managing our time alone, and even enjoying the peace of not having hubby around for a few days. Here are a few of my favorites:
1. Play the martyr card...my dear, wonderful in-laws will ask about my weekend plans...I mournfully state that hubby will be away. Dad will exclaim "Again??" and immediately offer to babysit so I can get out.
2. Shop. Nothing like spending hubby's money to give you some measure of revenge...
3. Guilt. "But hubby, you've been gone all summer, and I was so lonely...I think I need some time away also...a weekend with the girls at the outlet malls should make me feel better..."
4. Enjoy the quiet. Nothing like getting the kids to bed and realizing there's no TV on, nobody talking to me about the team's latest New Zealander pitcher...I get into bed with a good book and exhale...
I love that hubby has something in his life that he loves, is good at and has become famous for (a reporter from a national, mainstream publication once chased him for two years to get his story). He comes home to us happy and satisfied. It's worth it. Mostly.
Go Gremlins!
