Adventure of Being a Pilot's wife

It always been an uphill battle throughout my husband career.  It was 2004 and  I needed a ticket to move out after graduation and he was ready to pursue a new career.  We packed our bags and head to Florida for pilot school.  We both know at that time we did not want to get marry yet even though we dated for 7 years.  I know that no matter what happens to us, I want to go on this adventure with him.

An adventure it definitely was, we both left great paying jobs to pursue this dream.  I wanted something new and step out of my comfort zone and he want to pursue what he dreamed of becoming.  Unfortunately, after one license the school closed down and we were in a deep financial hole.  Luckily the bank was willing to put in more money to prevent all the pilots from filing from bankruptcy.  Long story short, he finally got all his license and now flies commercially for a regional airline.

On our 10th year anniversary, I finally said yes and now I am a pilot's wife.  It wasn't all that easy at first.  We went to both our junior and senior prom together, we worked in the same place and we both have a business degree.  So we saw each other all the time.  When he stayed back in Florida and I moved back to Nevada, it was one of the most challenging times in our relationship.  Surprisingly, the 2 year long distant end up making our relationship a lot stronger.

Absence does make the heart grow fonder.  We were forced to communicate and really build on our trust factor.  We were not the marrying type, but eventually my husband needed insurance and I wanted to enjoy the flying privileges.  Now, I absolutely love being married!  I think a sense of humor is vital to any relationships and my husband is definitely a very funny man.  Trust is a huge factor, I mean, the man has a free hotel room.  It is so easy for him to prowl plus he can take off the next day but it works both ways...he's never home.  Hee hee...jk Skype is our best friend!  Respect is another great factor in our marriage.  Being a pilot is out of the norm and we work with the scheduling and the finances and when we respect one another, it's a lot easier to be empathetic. The best thing is that we found our independence.  I can't always wait for him to come home to fix the house so sometimes I just have to get down and dirty.  And as I get to learn more about myself, we learn to appreciate one another.

How do you manage a healthy marriage?  What is the best advice you ever received for a relationship?