What's it like to be married to someone with a big job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a Mom friend who is married to a CEO of a national cable company. They used to live in DC but have moved on. He was in the service (army?) prior to this cable co. He's a straight arrow and very capable. Definitely landed in the right role.

My friend is his second wife and they have two kids. She worked when they met but then gave it up and did the corporate board thing. She is kind of at his beck & call. He'll call at 3 and say there's a business dinner where he'll have to entertain and she needs to have childcare at the ready and hair & make-up done for a night out. She's no dummy but I suppose they both think she has to look a certain way.

He is very driven and spends his weekends on the sidelines of his kids sports events. He's got high expectations for them. They got to go to the Olympics which I thought was super cool!

What happened to his first wife? Did he dump her once he got successful? Or was she just not cut out for the lifestyle?

[Anonymous]

How did you ladies meet these men with big jobs?

[Anonymous]

My DH is the CEO of a very large company. We have 3 teenagers, two homes and I work 25 hours a week at a non profit - a job I love. My other job is to be the COO of our lives. Except for managing our investments I take care of everything else. I'm fine with doing this because I have the time and skills and it means when my DH is home he spends a lot of time with me and our kids. This works really well for all of us. My DH is a wonderful husband and dad and our lives really work. He also does his own laundry which is a real plus!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did you ladies meet these men with big jobs?

I met mine in a conference room when we were in our early 20's working for the same company.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did you ladies meet these men with big jobs?

I met mine in a conference room when we were in our early 20's working for the same company.

BBQ. Just out of college. We started out really poor. DH was in grad school. We had so much fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did you ladies meet these men with big jobs?

We met at a bar in college. Married two years out and he just kept becoming more and more successful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Husband is a partner in a High Powered Big Law firm. The prestige is good, the money is better.

Who finds big law partners prestigious? I've always thought they were a dime a dozen.

it's a big job for small people

There was a DCUM mega thread about a different type of social class model (not lower-middle-upper but I think it was Labor-Gentry-Elite). Anyway the thing that stuck with me from it was the description of BigLaw as basically servants of the rich - so "elite" but "elite servants." It is so true.

Exactly this. Scriveners to the rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DH is the CEO of a very large company. We have 3 teenagers, two homes and I work 25 hours a week at a non profit - a job I love. My other job is to be the COO of our lives. Except for managing our investments I take care of everything else. I'm fine with doing this because I have the time and skills and it means when my DH is home he spends a lot of time with me and our kids. This works really well for all of us. My DH is a wonderful husband and dad and our lives really work. He also does his own laundry which is a real plus!

Sounds nice! Have you always worked the non profit job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DH is the CEO of a very large company. We have 3 teenagers, two homes and I work 25 hours a week at a non profit - a job I love. My other job is to be the COO of our lives. Except for managing our investments I take care of everything else. I'm fine with doing this because I have the time and skills and it means when my DH is home he spends a lot of time with me and our kids. This works really well for all of us. My DH is a wonderful husband and dad and our lives really work. He also does his own laundry which is a real plus!

Sounds nice! Have you always worked the non profit job?

No, I had a corporate job for around 15 years but when my oldest reached middle school I decided I wanted to be closer to home and we could afford it. But, I really wanted to work and I first joined the board of the non-profit and then became an employee because I really liked the mission. It's really a good balance for me because I like the work, I stay in my kids orbit and I have time to take care of managing our lives. I know how lucky I am.

[Anonymous]

Even though this is an old thread, I want to say that I really enjoyed reading these stories and wish there were more. I’ve always wondered what these marriages were like, and the only ones you hear of seem to be the ones that blow up publicly (aka Bezos).

[Anonymous]

My husband is very successful - CEO of a pretty well known company. Through him I've met many other CEO's and their spouses and based on my discussions with those spouses it can either be very good or very bad. I know that my husbands #1 priority is his family, not his job but that for many their #1 priority is their job. My husband works long hours and travels a fair amount, but when he's home he's all in as a dad and husband. Weekends are family time and are not for "customer entertaining" golf outings or attending the Super Bowl or other big sporting events. The only time I feel like the wife of a CEO is when we are at company or industry events and I get a lot of TLC. But day to day, while we live quite comfortably, life is pretty normal dominated by having three teenagers and all that entails.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DW has a big job. DD6 is at school so here I am killing time until I pick her up. Over the course of the past 18 months I seem to be treated more as the assistant to the house then a husband. The one day a week she is home for a family dinner at the table she is on the phone the entire time. Movie night is spent the entire time on the laptop. DD falls asleep every night is my arms crying for her mother. I get screamed at for not telling her the phone is ringing when she is in the shower.
The biggest thing is even when she is physically at home it seems as if she is completely checked out and all her thoughts and energy are on work.

If the man had a big job the children wouldn't be like this. It's the truth, sorry feminism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a Mom friend who is married to a CEO of a national cable company. They used to live in DC but have moved on. He was in the service (army?) prior to this cable co. He's a straight arrow and very capable. Definitely landed in the right role.

My friend is his second wife and they have two kids. She worked when they met but then gave it up and did the corporate board thing. She is kind of at his beck & call. He'll call at 3 and say there's a business dinner where he'll have to entertain and she needs to have childcare at the ready and hair & make-up done for a night out. She's no dummy but I suppose they both think she has to look a certain way.

He is very driven and spends his weekends on the sidelines of his kids sports events. He's got high expectations for them. They got to go to the Olympics which I thought was super cool!

I hope he plans an escape because cable companies are going belly up, they don't innovate and will be nothing more then glorified internet utilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband is very successful - CEO of a pretty well known company. Through him I've met many other CEO's and their spouses and based on my discussions with those spouses it can either be very good or very bad. I know that my husbands #1 priority is his family, not his job but that for many their #1 priority is their job. My husband works long hours and travels a fair amount, but when he's home he's all in as a dad and husband. Weekends are family time and are not for "customer entertaining" golf outings or attending the Super Bowl or other big sporting events. The only time I feel like the wife of a CEO is when we are at company or industry events and I get a lot of TLC. But day to day, while we live quite comfortably, life is pretty normal dominated by having three teenagers and all that entails.

You sound like the exception. I’m just guessing but I have to believe that many well known CEO’s are on their second marriages. I wonder if their divorce rate is above average?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DW has a big job. DD6 is at school so here I am killing time until I pick her up. Over the course of the past 18 months I seem to be treated more as the assistant to the house then a husband. The one day a week she is home for a family dinner at the table she is on the phone the entire time. Movie night is spent the entire time on the laptop. DD falls asleep every night is my arms crying for her mother. I get screamed at for not telling her the phone is ringing when she is in the shower.
The biggest thing is even when she is physically at home it seems as if she is completely checked out and all her thoughts and energy are on work.

Sounds like she might not like you very much. And now maybe you don’t like her either