Love is in the Air!

An idiom that summarises my life now since I am married to a commercial pilot. I thought it was about time I shared my feelings of being a pilot's wife along with a few odd details of my life!For that we'll have to go back a little in time.

Airport selfies are an official part of my life.

While the aircraft is being 'taxied'! ;)

Since, I am a fauji's daughter and have been born and brought up in cantonments, it was a no-brainer I'd end up with a Fauji myself. A fauji's daughter who'd smoothly transition into a fauji's wife. It was that simple & sorted for me. Little did I know, all of that would end up being a fragment of my imagination. The biggest change and challenge for me was to adapt to the 'civil' life. Since, a fauji kid (especially of the 90s), is raised in a protected environment, for most of our lives there is a distinction between fauji vs civil culture. I mean, they are just inately opposite.

So, while the everyday life was a stark contrast. It took me a while to make peace with the fact that I was a civilian too now, with fauji blood and etiquettes of course. Ouch. It still hasn't sunk in completely.

But, every cloud has a silver lining. I mean, he wears a uniform too! I agree, I may get to see my husband more often than fauji wives while their husabnds are posted in the field area, but then I don't get the three years of peace posting as well.

Quite often our sleep patterns don't match. I mean, there is no concept of day or night in a pilot's life- everything depends on the flight schedule. The roster in a way controls your perosnal life as well, because you never know when you might get a call to operate a random flight right in the middle of the night.

Navigation skills on point- be it on ground or 35000ft above!

For quite a few months I underestimated his job because I couldn't understand the big deal in it. But, when I sat in the flight for the first time as a pilot's wife, there was a change in the perspective. When one flight can take a toll on you, it can definitely screw up with a person's body and mind when you have to operate four sectors in a day. It's only gradually I undertsood the dier need to rest for a day until you can feel like yourself. Nintey nine percent of the times, He's is in what he likes to call 'a zombie mode' which is probably similar to me PMSing. So, you can imagine the mess that it would create on days when we'd both be at our most vulnerable and irriatble selves!

However, I have now become a self-proclaimed critic of aircraft landings. I like to use the technical terms like, push-back (etc etc), whenever possible to impress myself. I am a part of the airlines gossip community.I know that the ipad MUST be kept on charge the night prior. I know how a good commander can make a whole lot of a difference. I am most definitely aware of the fact that an aircraft is not just run on auto-pilot mode. That every button in the cockpit has a particular function. Airport no longer is a strange place, it's a mini version of a cantonment for me now. There's a sense of belonging. I definitely felt the goosebumps when I sat for the first time in a flight my husband was operating. I know exactly how long it would take at any given hour of the day to reach the airport. I understand precisely what the Pilot announces in that muffled voice. I know that vacations cannot be planned and that last minute plans no longer give me as much anxiety!

Firsts are always special.

From a two day long vacation that took forever to happen because leaves are such a hassle!

Each day is an adventure in life, more so when you're a pilot's wife.

Distance makes the heart grow fonder. At 35,000ft? Most definitely!