A Long-Distance Marriage

My husband works on an oil platform. He's away for four weeks and home for two. We've lived like this for three years. People say, "How do you manage?" I say, "Badly, and then well, and then badly again."

The four weeks are hard. I do everything alone: the children, the house, the bills, the small emergencies. We talk every evening, but the phone signal is bad and the calls are short. Sometimes I'm angry that he's not here. Then I remember that the money pays for the children's school.

The two weeks are strange too. For the first days, he's a guest in his own house — he doesn't know where things are, and the children are shy. Then it's normal. Then he leaves again. We've learned to make the two weeks count. No fights about small things. No wasted evenings. We know the clock is running.