18 March 2011

A Husband for All Seasons

Ok, I'll admit it. I'm old-fashioned and BORING. My eye doctor even told me I'd need bifocals yesterday. Other people lead more exciting lives.

Many of the people I've met online in my YoVille game are happily married. The first married couple I really got to know had some shared homes and beautiful pictures of one another on their virtual walls. I'll call them Dan and Danielle. They spent a lot of money (well, $100 is a LOT of money on a 'free' game) making their homes beautiful places to be together avatar-wise because they lived in two different states. Something about the husband's job and he can't leave the job just yet.

It struck me as a little strange but certainly not unheard of. My own father travelled internationally for business and my mother accompanied him on only one of those trips. To Brazil, ages and ages ago. So... I do understand that dads have to work, and are often away from home.

But then I heard about Danielle's lavish wedding. It was, she said, the most important and most touching day of her life. All her friends were there. It was a great online experience. And as soon as Dan is ready to leave his wife, they can start their lives in REAL life out in Oklahoma with her kids.

*thunk*

I'm a little more jaded now when I come across "families" on YoVille. I wasn't surprised when D played for a little bit and we'd pop into other people's "houses" for a bit that new friends weren't sure what to make of us. You mean, you're married? In real life or just on YoVille? Real life? And you're on YoVille together? Do you have another husband/wife on YoVille? Wait, it's just YOU together? You're on the game from separate floors in your house?? (Ohh. Hmm, that's different...)

What can I say? We're an odd family. So far as I know, my husband doesn't even have a "work spouse." That would make life interesting.

For those of you backward people who don't know what a work spouse is, it's basically a worktime-only husband or wife. No sex (yet). "Nearly two thirds of workers have or have had a work spouse" according to the article, but "surprisingly" there are no greeting cards for this. If you were writing one, what would it say? "Happy Valentine's Day, my quirky-cute office spouse. You know all my secrets and my deepest wishes. You are so much cuter than my real wife, 25 years younger, and it's awesome that you never nag me to do the lawn or help with the kids. And this bunch of roses I buy you once a year proves you are lower maintenance than that old cow. Hubba Hubba. Love, Jack."

3 comments:

  1. I think the term 'office spouse' is completely offensive. I worked as an MA in a private office for several years, I knew the doctor's wife. I knew his favorite candy, his kid's birthdays, and his favorite resturants. I however was a happily married woman with a lot bigger and better things waiting at home for me than some middle aged dork-o doctor. I had my husband. I would be so hurt if I found out he was referring to a co-worker as a spouse. That isn't a title that I take lightly. (Thank goodness the only woman who works his shift is a hurly-burly lesbain!) I know my husband would be equally offended if the shoe were on the other foot. My giggle here is, do men who work closely together call eachother their 'work life partners'??

    I have friends on FB who are really married in life, but interact and talk to eachother on FB only. If it works for them, more power to 'em.

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  2. Your husband played YoVille? My husband sits on his computer playing Spider Solitaire or Mahjong telling me facebook, YV and I play FV too is a waste of time. I really don't get how I am wasting time and he is not but whatever!

    The only people I have met through YV are the women in YoMomz and I interact with them more on facebook than I do in the game. I didn't know people had virtual weddings and families. I mostly just decorate.

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  3. Blondee, I think the term is a bit denigrating, too... but wow, can you imagine some people think that about their coworkers??

    And Julie, YES, you need to get out and chat more with some folks and see this is actually pretty common on YoVille. NOT the husband playing part... the "marriages" and stuff. You can also be someone's "child" or "sister" or whatever just like some of the younger people are doing on fb, listing their friends as "siblings."

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Non-troll comments always welcome! :)

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