[navane]

geedeamonggreek,


I appreciate that you at least had enough self-awareness to come here to seek some advice. I commend you for that.


I will chime in to say that I agree with the other posters here who are expressing concern over the level of "clingy-ness" you've displayed. As I read your initial post, I was immediately struck by your worry that your girlfriend would be busy for 8 days and that her participation in the sorority's recruitment activities would cause her to pull away from you and the relationship. That concerns me. Yes, yes, you mentioned a bit about the coming semester as well; but, that you are struggling to separate yourself from her and the relationship for what amounts to one week is worrisome.


Think about this being applied to other situations in life. For example, what if her father or mother fell sick with a terrible illness and she needed to spend a couple weeks at home helping out full-time. She needs to give 100% focus to her mom's rehabilitation and doesn't have the time to call you between cooking, cleaning, bathing her mom, driving to doctor's appointments and picking up prescriptions. Would you be worried that her mother's cancer would come inbetween your girlfriend and you? Sounds silly, right? Ridiculous even. That's because a relationship should be a supportive experience for each person. She's busy this WEEK with a school activity. There will be times when YOU will be busy and will need to "step away" for a time and she will be the one sitting on the sidelines. But, that's how life goes. If your connection can't survive a week or a couple of weeks, then the relationship isn't strong to start with.


Take it from me. I'm a Fire Captain. I work 24-hour shifts and I work two back-to-back shifts a week (48 hours straight). This week and next, I am scheduled for 3 shifts....that's 72-hours straight being away from home. When we get called up for large wildland fires, we can be gone for up to 14-days at a time. It's not an easy life for a family - especially with me being a female. If I ever get married, I'm going to need a man who understands my line of work. We have a saying in the fire and police services - one needs a spouse who can "embrace the badge". That is, a partner who understands what this line of work entails, the tough work hours and the mental toll it takes to be married to a police officer or firefighter. AND we can add military, business executives, airline pilots, on-call surgeons, etc, etc to the list!


You have it easy. Your lady is "only" in a college sorority with a couple of weeks of tough scheduling. This will be the least of your worries in life. Embrace her badge.