Jake had back-to-back-to-back flyouts on the East Coast last week! While exciting, it also meant he was apart from Cindy and Toddler R for one entire week. It’s the longest we’ve been apart since being married. And the longest he’s been away from Toddler R ever. It was difficult but we survived!

For Jake, the week was filled with lots and lots of flying. His schedule was: fly to university, interview the following day, fly to the next university the day after, and repeat. Since he had to pack for colder weather, he wasn’t able to fit all his warm clothes and interview clothes in one carry-on bag and had to check-a-bag. Our conversation the entire week basically consisted of Cindy asking if his bags made it to the next destination. Fortunately, no lost bags! On actual interview days, Jake’s schedule was packed with all-day meetings plus a 1.5 hour presentation of his paper. We are not joking when we say interview days were 12 hours long!!! And while the meetings were very pleasant, the presentations were challenging. Jake has to not only share his research but also defend it. It’s all so stressful, exhausting, and most of all exhilarating! The Econ Job Market is a very unique process that seems so strange to those outside of the field because it’s so formal and so consolidated into this one month of January. There are a select handful of websites where all the jobs are posted. And a lot of the hiring process happens in this one month. Nearly everyone graduating with a PhD in Economics goes through the Job Market and comes out with a job. Even Cindy was in disbelief when Jake initially shared how the process works. But for those in the field, it is an experience nearly all who have a PhD in Economics experience–whether those people are in tech, consulting, government, academia, etc.

Jake has another round of flyouts soon. But for now, he is just so happy to be back home with his ladies. He missed Cindy. But he really missed Toddler R. It’s amazing how much kids change in just one week. And Jake got a little FOMO from missing out on all that development.

As for Cindy, the week of solo parenting started out fun! She was excited about one-on-one time with Toddler R and alone time at night after Toddler R went to bed. And though she did enjoy all the quality time and free time, the excitement quickly wore off. It was exhausting doing it all on her own. She realized she is so fortunate to have Jake and vows to never ever ever be mean to him ever again. lol. She is so happy for Jake to be home!!