The long-suffering families of hams

Are you the only ham in your family? Have you ever stopped to think about how much your non-ham family members sacrifice in order for you to have fun on the radio?

Do you ever hear the yell "I'm trying to watch my show and you're messing up the tv again!", or "I've asked you to take the laundry out of the dryer ten times!", or "I don't care if your dinner gets cold again!"?

Do you find your family sitting in the car with scowls on their faces because you kept saying you'd be right there...30 minutes ago while you were chasing Glorioso?

Do you hear your wife mowing over your radial field because you kept saying you would mow the yard as soon as you work this station?

Have you ever threatened to take away your wife's credit cards if she ever runs the blender again while Ducie Island is on?

Have your kids ever missed riding the log flume because the ham radio store closes at 5?

If you're the only ham in the house, you know what I'm talking about.

But after enduring years and years of this, sometimes non-ham family members eventually come around to our way of thinking.

Have you ever gotten a call at work to tell you that your QSL came from Iraq?

Have you ever been sitting watching tv and your wife returns from the store and hands you this month's CQ?

Do you ever hear your wife yell at the kids to stop playing around the antenna?

Does your wife call you when you're out of town and tell you that she had to unplug your antenna because it came a bad storm?

Do you ever overhear your kids telling their friends about how cool your ham shack is?

Don't forget to thank those non-ham sufferers.