The Struggles of a Chef Wife – The Unknown Schedule

The long hours of a chef are tough.  But while the long hours are hard on our family, the unknown schedule is harder!

There were many years where my chef/husband had set days off.  From what I remember, those were days when he was working as a line cook or Sous Chef.  Once he hit the Executive Chef level, his days off would change based on events, meetings, etc.

The Struggles of a Chef Wife - the unknown schedule

Because I stay home full time, whatever day he has off, I am home.  (However, this hasn’t always been the case.  There were many years we worked opposite schedules.  Ugh!)  Not knowing what days off your husband will have next week or next month, makes it tough to plan things.  It’s hard to invite another family over for dinner, or hard to be invited over for dinner (for the few people brave enough to cook for my husband).

And what about vacations?  We will be celebrating our 20 year anniversary in July!  YAY!!  We’d like to go on a cruise to celebrate.  We have the money for the cruise, but we can’t book it because of a few restaurant openings that are happening this summer.  Of course there are dates they are supposed to open, and hopefully they will open on time.  But we all know how that goes . . . sometimes there are things that are out of his control.  So for now, we have a plan to go, the money to go, parents willing to watch the kids but we’ll have to book last minute (which might actually save us money in this situation).

It just makes it hard to plan things.  I’m used to doing things on my own, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to plan something to do together in advance and look forward to it.  🙂

How does the unknown schedule of your chef affect your life being married to a chef?  Let me know in the comments below.

From one chef wife to another,

Jennifer

 

 

2 Comments

  1. julianaloh @bilbaobab

    The husband is spontaneous and we book holidays on the go! sometimes just the night before we get our flights and we’re out for a short trip. Took a while getting used to as I prefer to have some advance notice, but now I’m learning to enjoy and life that spontaneous life – afterall, life is short, so seize the moment (and days off!)

    Reply
    • Jennifer

      We ended up with an amazing little 3 day get a way at the last minute a couple months ago. Sometimes being spontaneous works out to your advantage!! 🙂 Glad you’ve learned to enjoy it!

      Reply

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