Living on opposite sides of the clock

My Google Search history is riddled with the query. What time is it in.....fill in the blank.
Rob spent Christmas in Shanghai, New Years in Hong Kong and over-nighted in a variety of European and Asian cities in between.

This month it's been New Delhi, Hahn, Germany and Latvia. He's in the middle of a 17 day trip and this is the text I got from him the other day: 

Unacceptable. Ha. Because you just do. Accept it. 

Every step along the way to where he is now in his career, I have dreaded the anticipated changes and struggled in the early days of learning some "new normal" for us. But, here we are living via video-chat, and doing ok. 

He's missed some major holidays and won't be home for me to pamper him on Father's Day. But he'll make it home on our anniversary. Until then, we live on opposite sides of the clock: I stay up late to say "good morning" to him or wake up to a message that came through at 2 a.m. saying "getting ready to take-off". Sometimes that means that it will be 5 p.m. my time before he lands and can be in touch. As much as I miss him and struggle with the reality of his job: I know it is harder for him. Long days, interminable jet lag, boring 3-day lay-overs in the middle of nowhere. 

Sometimes he is lucky and there are other crew members in the same hotel. Other times, he is wandering around New Delhi looking for a late dinner by himself, trying not to look lost while actually being just a little bit lost. Those stories are shared after the fact and I try to pretend that things like that never happen. I actively try not to worry. 

He sends pictures of his exotic meals, interesting architecture, and smog. I send pictures of the garden, his dog and myself. What would this life be like if we didn't have the technology available to communicate instantly as we do?  Though I am glued to my phone more now than I was while "on call", it is something to be grateful for. 

Still, he is far away. Getting home from where he is now would mean flying straight north until he passed over the top of the globe and began heading south. It's a lot of miles. And he's not turning toward home for almost a week. 

I'll be here waiting.