Back to work!

My wife and I are different. 

If it wasn’t apparent to me before now, it became clearer this week. Yes, she’s smarter, kinder, and more loving. She’s friendly to everyone she meets. She’s beautiful inside and out. Yea, yea, we know about all of those things, while I check none of those boxes, but I’m actually referring to something altogether different.

First, some background: My wife broke her hand in December when we traveled to Florida for my work. She went to the beach and got some sun, while I sat in boring meetings. Unfortunately, right in the middle of my last meeting of the day, right before what was to be our long romantic weekend together, she sent me an emergency text. She had fallen getting out of the hotel pool and had broken her hand.

She had a brace put on to stabilize her hand and, when we returned home, her doctor determined that she needed emergency surgery to put in a rod and a few screws into her hand. He initially recommended she stay out of work until late January and then extended it to February. 

Get back to work

My wife has been making progress in her OT sessions and will start back to work on Monday, February 27. As I’ve watched my wife, it’s hit me that she’s apples to my oranges. She’s been a sourpuss the past two months, missing her students and coworkers. She’s been frustrated with her progress and can’t wait to get back to work. 

I, on the other hand, would have handled my time off with a much different approach. I would have been kicking back. If I were in her shoes, I’d be milking my broken hand for all its worth. I’d probably still be off. Here’s how the conversation with the doctor would go: “Hey doc,” wink, wink, “How about we extend my li’l break for a few more weeks? Whatcha say doc? We in agreement?” 

Mental health time

Now, I’m not saying I’m a lazy bum, because I’m not, I’m a hard worker. I easily work 40 to 50-plus hours a week, but I would be looking to take advantage of every chance I could get to make the most of my time off. “March Madness is coming up. I’m not a big fan of college basketball but hey doc, the NCAA tournament would do my wonders for my OT progress! All that cheering and maybe even lifting a few pints of beer in the middle of the day, that would have to help my hands and wrist. What do you say?” (For those unfamiliar, March Madness refers to mid-March when college men’s and women’s basketball tournaments are held, culminating in the national championships. The early match-ups start on a Thursday and Friday in the middle of the day.)

How did my wife handle it? She handled it different than me. When the doctor first brought up the idea of staying home, she was trying to find ways around it. If I heard it once, I heard it a thousand of times, how she missed her job, how she missed her kids. Now, I love my coworkers — they’re the best, especially any of them reading this blog piece right now — but I would have no problems saying “hey guys, I’ll be back in four weeks. Catch ya on the flip side!”

Brighter days

At one point, early in her recovery, I had to call her out. After she complained for 20 minutes about missing work, I asked her to write her name on a piece of paper. If she could do that, then I was a worry-wort and an annoying jerk and she was ready to go back to work, whenever she wanted. 

Ha, ha, of course, I caught her, she couldn’t use her hand yet, but that didn’t make her any happier. 

Thank God, we’re past that now. She’s doing much better. Now, if I could just find a way for me to get a four-week vacation out of the deal, then things would be perfect! What about the angst and emotional strain that I’ve suffered for the past two months taking care of her? Sounds legitimate right?

Yea, that’s not working! Back to the grindstone for me too.

Images by Karolina Grabowska via Pexels.