To Those of You Who May Become a Doctor's Wife

Sometimes I feel a little like this:

Wanted:
A good woman to be spouse of physician in training. Applicant should expect to take care of the following duties:

• All housekeeping
  
• All home maintenance
• All car maintenanace
• All Home expenses
• Children (to include the following: feeding, bathing, playing with, entertaining, teaching, doctor's visits, playdates, sick children duties as well)
• Grocery Shopping (this includes managing to stay under budget for the doctor who has certain tastes and expectations that will often put you over budget for each week. Plan ahead for this)
• Planning all vacations, trips home
• Planning birthday parties and house parties/social events
• Attending social events alone or with only your kids
• Sleeping alone in bed sometimes weeks at a time
• Talking only to kids for days at a time when kids are ill

I happily accept all these duties including the big ones:

• Giving up ALL control to the scheduling of your time...it must always defer to the physician husband. Whether it means that you must take extra days off from work to take care of your sick child when your husband still has 20 days he could take and you are completely out and/or not work at all...whether it means you cannot send out your son's birthday invitations without either giving your guests days notice or having your husband not be able to be there because he is on call...Whether it is because it is April 5th and you still don't know your husband's April schedule...
  

The list goes on and on...some things are more frustrating than others--but all mostly understandable and adaptable by us. We get used to it and it grows on us. Our kids tell us things like: "Mommy, I cannot play right now...I just got called out with my pager. I have to go to work. We can play in a little while." They too get used to the life. We learn to enjoy our husbands all that much more when they are available...and love them from a distance when their minds are consumed by their jobs. We learn that if we don't get a call back from our husbands because they are in surgery...that they will call eventually. We also learn to rely on ourselves all the more. We befriend other physician's wives for comfort and understanding...and we welcome any woman willing to commit to this type of life with open arms.

The life of a doctor's wife is one of ultimate self-sacrifice for the family that they provide for. We may not provide financially, but we do provide our families with everything else they could possibly need...warmth, care, and love. We are the dependable glue that holds everything together. (you can call me Crazy Glue, if you want to)

So, when I feel like I am drained and just another person who answered that job ad...I think and breathe and realize that I did sign up for it...and I love my life.