7 things you shoud know if you plan to marry a rocket scientist

Ok, so all these lists going around online have inspired me to write a list of my own. This is one I've been working on for the last 16 years while married to my husband...

1. Unless your spouse works in propulsion, don't refer to him/her as a rocket scientist. 
 
My husband is an aerospace engineer. Whenever I tell someone what he does for a living, they say, "oh, he's a real life rocket scientist?" Wait, let me back up- whenever I tell someone who does NOT live in Huntsville, Alabama aka "Rocket City" that he owns a small aerospace engineering firm with contracts to NASA and commercial space companies, they say, "oh, he's a real life rocket scientist?" To which I have to say, "well, no actually. He doesn't work on propulsion." Insert blank stares here. But I say it. Because that is what is expected of the spouse of an aerospace engineer. Technically correct representations of the facts.

My husband at his firm Zero Point Frontiers

So the remainder of this list will be 6 things you should know if you plan to marry an aerospace engineer...

1.  Your spouse will prefer estimations to include numbers and not metaphors. 
 
Speaking of technically correct representations of the facts, my husband always wants me to clarify what I mean by "a lot." For example, it is not acceptable to say "there is a lot of water coming from the pipe below the sink." He wants some sort of number value given to the amount of water. And usually a number involving the duration of said leak too...

2. Directions will be given in terms of east/west and the like and not "turn by the carwarsh."

My husband has frequently asked me "where is the sun?" while giving me directions. I don't know? In the sky.... All I can say is that Google Maps has pretty much saved our marriage...

3. Your household may become early adopters of new technology.

My husband has waited hours if not days in line (how's that for number estimates!) for the latest iphone. And we've upgraded our tv more than our carpet. We also bought the first Pruis off a car lot in Southern CA. Sometimes this can be frustrating, but if you go with it, you can reap great rewards.

I remember being frustrated with a gift of a Tivo shortly after my first daughter's birth 10 years ago. I had no idea what a Tivo was, but I was certain we didn't need it. And annoyed that he thought I would want one. Then I discovered that I could PAUSE live tv whenever my new baby needed attention. So I could be a good mom, AND not miss a moment of my show. Win-win. And suddenly my husband was the genius everyone assumed him to be...

4. You might become a science fiction fan.

Before the marriage I did like me some Star Trek, not gonna lie. But in the last 16 years, my exposure to science fiction has multiplied at a rate like the tribbles. Some of it is bound to stick...






5.  Before you know it, your kids will know more about the universe than you do.

When my daughter was 5 she declared, "I'm bored with Daddy taking us to school. All he does is tell us science stories. I know everything now. I even know how a black hole is formed."
Same year she told me she loved me as much as the amount of "earths fit into the sun." Which she said was more than a million. And according to my fact checking, she was correct. So I felt really loved and sadly inadequate that my 5-year-old knew more about the scale of things in our universe than I did... 

6. If you ask a question, be prepared for an answer. 

My standard disclaimer to any friends or family that visit the U.S. Space and Rocket Center with us is this, "Don't ask Jason a question unless you really want to know the answer." Because if you point to something randomly and ask, "what's that?" you might get a 15 minute mini-lecture on the history of space hardware. Which can be fascinating if you are prepared. Which is also true of the whole marriage experience. Fascinating if you are prepared. So says this one random angel...