A Coaches Wife During Recruiting

I'll be completely honest. Recruiting is my least favorite part of being married to a football coach. Weeks apart can be pretty lonely and tiring (emotionally and physically.)

In almost 15 years of marriage we have not had much time together in the month of May.....or January for that matter👰🏼🏈💍.

He leaves in search of new players while I handle our home and family. Don't get me wrong....I am used to zone coverage when it's handling our 4 boys. When it's football season, many wives will agree, you're pretty much handling it all anyways👶🏼👦🏼👦🏻👦🏼🏈👰🏼💍.

During the season, however, you actually get to see each other. Maybe it is not a lot....but at least it is sometimes. When he is away  for weeks recruiting, FaceTime (thank god for it) is the only time together we share. My 4 sons and I will squeeze together on the couch for a brief moment in the evening just to say hi and tell daddy about the day at school👶🏼👦🏼👦🏻👦🏼👩🏼‍💻🛋.

During spring recruiting, I juggle my 6, 12, and 14 year old boys in their different sports....with our youngest babe (who is just under 2) on my hip.....or more likely he's probably running around getting into something🤹🏼‍♀️🥅⚽️⚾️🏃🏼👶🏼😳.

Our "dinner times" will consist of the staples that only kids like.....chicken nuggets, corn dogs, PB&J's, and mac-n-cheese. To be 100% real...I eat a lot of cereal during recruiting...just to keep it simple. I know....it is not the healthiest meal....don't judge. I try to work smarter, not harder in regards to "cooking" while dad is away. 💡👩🏼‍🍳

I'll be doing the dishes, cleaning the high chair (3 times a day), folding the laundry, changing the diapers, helping with homework, mediating brotherly quarrels, bathing the little one, driving to practice, shopping for groceries, reading bedtime stories, playing "handyman" (with four boys something will probably need to get fixed at some point), and tucking in kiddos........ALL.....ALONE......Let's just pray no one gets sick. 😳👩🏼‍🔧👩🏼‍🏫👩🏼‍⚕️👩🏼‍⚖️👶🏼👦🏼👦🏻👦🏼🗣📝📚🛒🛁💩🚕🛌🤦🏼‍♀️.

Then there is work. I am a full time nanny to a family with three children, so I can be home with our baby. This can be rough while he's away. My 19 month old's favorite three words right now are hi, please, and no.....which can make things pretty interesting in the conversation department. Not exactly much adult conversation for me when my husband's gone👶🏼👶🏻👦🏻👧🏼.

When he is gone recruiting, with all the hours and miles he spends on the road, I also worry.  This week he left with snow on the ground...not my favorite thing to see in May, especially when you know your husband will be driving 8 hours to find future Jackrabbits. I don't think there's been a single time he's left without a little concern or a tear in my eye👰🏼🙏🏼😢.

So this post isn't to get you to feel sorry for me or any other college football wife.....believe me.....we know it's part of the deal. To find great future players you have to search for them. Plus I've never met a coaches wife who doesn't like to win games.....you need great players to do that......right?? 😉🏈👍🏼

This post is just to let you know the daily sacrifice we make when our husbands are gone for weeks at a time, working hard finding those future players. They are looking to add to our football family.....while we lose time with our own immediate family. 

So bless all the coaches spending all those hours on the road.....but bless those great women they leave behind with their hands full even more.  We are juggling everything because we love our coaches....and our teams. Go Jackrabbits!💙🏈💛🐰💍👰🏼👶🏼👦🏼👦🏻👦🏼