The bright side

There's no doubt that it's sometimes tricky being married to a pilot. You spend a lot of your time alone, your life is often completely unplannable, your husband is often away just when you need him most, and there's sometimes not much to smile about. But there are a lot of benefits, too. They're not spoken about much. I wish they had been, when we started this life; I think if I'd known that then, I might not have been so frightened about what was in store.

1) You never, ever get bored of each other. Unlike couples who are stuck in a 9-5 rut, our life is never predictable, and we often enjoy completely random (and wonderful) days off together during the week, or have that fantastic moment of glee when he comes home after days away, just like we are teenagers again.

2) You get cheap(er) travel! Sure, the glory days of free flights has more of less gone in a lot of the industry, but we still manage to get great cheap flights around the world, and lots of discounts on hotels and much more besides. I think this is a tremendous privilege. We are much more widely travelled than a lot of our friends, and for a lot less, too!

3) You're married to a man who loves his job. Well, mostly! There are certainly days when my husband is cursing the work pattern he's on, and he's tired and annoyed, but mostly he loves to fly, and it shows. Far better than a husband who comes home and feels downtrodden and frustrated by his job.

4) Duty Free! Our entire house is stocked full of booze that my husband's bought for us when he's away. And, of course, there are the pressies!

What brought this outburst of optimism on? Well, we've just had a blissful, amazing couple of days. We had so much fun together, and at one point my husband just looked at me and said "I just love being married to you."

Which is quite enough to keep me smiling for the rest of the month, at least.