We all know our spouses take on a lot more responsibility when they decide to support us through this journey. Truthfully, my friend is divorced and did med school as a single mom and I go cross eyed thinking about the insurmountable odds she was up against. I could not do this without my husband. He has gone above and beyond in many ways trying to support me through this as have many of our spouses. Sadly he can not tutor me. 
What are some ways you have shown your appreciation for all your spouse has done during this journey? I know I don’t tell him enough. I don’t want him to think I take him for granted. Yet, there are those times when life gets so busy it’s hard to blink let alone pause long enough to say thank you.
Hmm. . .do I thank him for having me take jr. to karate twice last week, while he did it ZERO times? Honestly, my husband is kind of selfish. He’s supportive, but he’s not a “gee honey let me clean up the kitchen while you study” kind of supportive. He’s more like the “I won’t be a huge baby and stand in your way” kind of supportive. But, we got from “I will be a huge baby” to “I won’t be a huge baby” in 2 yrs, so maybe by 2011 he will actually be supportive and pick up some slack around the house.
Sorry for turning your nice question into a rant. You’re lucky to have a great husband!
Awe I’m sorry. Mine took jr to work w/ him today b/c his job is threatening fireing if he calls off once more. He’s called off every time the kids were sick and I had class so I wouldn’t have to miss lecture. I sucked it up and stayed home yesterday but when DS was still sick today and I had a final, I couldn’t really miss it.
He does good laundry too!
Oh and he’s a much better house cleaner than me. I’m wretched next to his cleaning skills.
I can only dream of those things. . .
My boyfriend is like yours AliJ…only worse he’s still half a baby. And whines minimally when I study instead of pay attention to him.
It was a struggle, but we both committed to showing mutual appreciation all along the way. And, we frequently failed by getting wrapped up in our own separate lives - it is PERILOUSLY easy to grow apart due to the absurd schedules you will keep as the med student/resident part of the equation…as bad as it is during med school, it gets much worse during training.
But, even though we floundered a few times and even ended up on the rocks a couple of times, we persevered. At all points, we both endeavored to relay just how much appreciated one another’s efforts.
In the end, her reward was precisely what I promised it would be. I promised her before I even started undergrad work that one day, in the distant future, when I signed my first contract that she got to choose whether or not to remain a professional (she is a nurse), work part-time or retire on the spot so that she could chase her dream of becoming a professional photographer. I made good on my word of 12+ years prior. I signed the contract & looked at her and said, “What is your decision?” She was a bit flabbergasted; so I reminded her of my promise so long ago. She smiled and said, “I QUIT!”
She’s now taking photography courses and doing a damned fine job of raising our daughters.
Dave that is so awesome. Thanks for sharing that! I keep telling him one day it will be worth it too. But his idea of worth it is no longer living paycheck to paycheck.
Oh that’s awesome Dave! I’m going to make Tim a promise like that…maybe it will curb some of the misgivings he has about this whole thing, although he’s pretty good but he needs some minor encouraging from time to time!!! I think we all do though.