Is Rig Life Really Worth It?

Let me tell you how it is for us.
We really have grown to love rig life, but not that long ago we really felt like we had had enough. My husband was on the road 5 to 6 weeks at a time and as soon as we thought that we just couldn't go another day apart he would be shipped home to sit for at least a month at a time. We were really being hit hard by the whole "feast or famimine" lifestyle that is part of the rigs. With all the finacial ups and downs it was wearing hard on our marriage and we were really beginning to wonder if getting off the rigs might be the answer to our problems.

So the opportunity came up for my husband to go give pipeline a try and we decided to take it. At first it sounded awesome. He would finally be close enough to home to be able to drive home after work every night and the pay sounded like it would be good enough to pay the bills. We were so excited about him coming home at night and the possiblity of a little stability was just to good to turn down.

So he quit his rig life and turned to the pipeline. Well, let me tell you it was not nearly as great as we thought it would be. Turns out when you have spent your whole relationship living a rig lifestyle it is really hard to change. We had hoped with him being home every night that he would be able to participate more with putting kids to bed, helping out with homework and just generally hanging out with me in the evenings. Not only are me and my husband used to rig life but the kids have grown up with him gone alot so they were used to me doing everything for them.

Don't get me wrong all the kids were excited to see "daddy" come through the door each night, they loved eating supper with him and having a chance to tell him all about there day, they even enjoyed him tucking them in and saying good night every night....But I still had to be right behind him doing everything that he had already done as they just would not settle down until "mommy" did it.

He would try and help with bath time and the little ones were just not happy about the way he did things. Guess it is hard for children to deal with change too. I was still happy to have my husband there but we also found it was a lot of strain. He was understandably tired after working 10 to 12 hours during the day and just did not feel like staying up to hang out at night. I can't say I really blame him.

To top it all off when he quit the rigs to go pipeline his pay was literally cut in half. This put an even bigger strain on our financial situation. We were getting ourselves in to a pretty bad situation. We considered all the options we had and finally decided that rig life was just in our blood and we were not ready to change just yet.

So it is back to the rigs and our beloved rig life. It may be lonely at times and there are definelty hardships but it seems that is just part of life and no matter what path you take in life you will always find hard times.

Hey life happens and all in all I am glad we took the chance to try and create a different lifestyle. Guess it just wasn't for us.

Check out Rig Life: How To Keep The Home Fires Burning. It has some great tips on keeping your relationship alive when you are working away.