Dating and chasing

[fplowman]

Fortunatly my fiance Susan will chase with me when she can. She's not quite as fanatical about it as myself. I will take off work, as I put it all on the line with my boss when I started there. She will be a good lil' employee and not rock the boat.

I guess it all depends all upon the level of devotion to our sport or as Shane says passion. Nothing stands in the way other than forces outside of my control.

 

[Mikey Gribble]

The bottom line is that your significant other shouldn't stand in the way of your passion in life (like others said).

 

[Eric Flescher]

That is a good one Shane
"Yeah....it's Spring."
chuckle chuckle
Anyone have other good excuses? Anyway my wife understands my passion for storms. Like many wives, if you just tell them you/I are going that is all they want to know. You can't necessarily tell when you'll be back but a general time is good.

Interesting thread.

Michael As for
"I would skip my own wedding for a tornado outbreak if I could get away with it."

Trust me with this one you would not get away with it

 

[David Drummond]

Ok, lets keep the posts clean here.

 

[Eric Flescher]

always remembers

That is a good way to say. Likely my wife understands (most of the time) except if there is something that will go on and then we hear "oh the storms are more important then me." I don't hear it too much. She's great!




****

Yeah, I forgot about that type of girl. Basically it goes back to if they start whining leave ASAP.. unless you really like the girl and can take the daily beating. If I know one thing about girls it's that once they don't like something and it bothers them it usually never changes.

 

[Robert Edmonds]

My girlfriend is generally supportive. However, her, my friends, and work just keep trying set aside a day or two for some activity, like camping, or extra data reduction, during my "chase time". I keep telling her and others that I can't know if I will be around for those days up until a day or two before. Then I am being told I am just being unreasonable. However, if I give one day of chasing up to do something else with my girlfriend, then my friends will think it will be ok to set a day to do something, and then people from work will decide it's ok to give me an extra little work during that time. It's been like this for about a month and I've had to fight tooth and nail for my few weeks (May 13th-June 8th), and I will until that time frame is over.

For example I’m out with friends.

Friend; “Hey we should go camping!”
Girlfriend; “That’s a great idea, we should do that the weekend after finals around late may.”
Me; “Ummm… that’s my storm chasing time, and I don’t know if I’ll be around.”
Girlfriend; “What you can’t set aside one weekend to go camping.”
Me; “Yea! It’s late may!!!”
Girlfriend; “Your being unreasonable.”

 

[Jordan Hartley]

I think in order to find middle ground with your significant other, you have to seek to understand in order to be understood. Where Mike is concerned there are alot of factors going into that situation to make it as combustable as it seems. I picked up on it a little on thursday but luckily for you Mike I think you got a girl that really likes you and aint going to screw you over. If you ask me what I think is the firing mechanism that causes/ignites a women to have frustration/anger/hate towards our passion I would have to say its our inability to turn off "the weather" when nothings going on right here, right now. During the March 28th outbreak I was totally tuned out to reality and completley focused on what was going on "weather" wise. My wife didnt like that too much cause to her all I cared about was the weather. Funny how things work, she was my driver during the 4/24/07 event and she wanted to go, granted I gave her an invitation but it was still her choice. I think ultimatley you cant have two loves in your life and for most chasers based on what im seeing in this thread the weather is the love of their life(looking at it from the other side). If your with a woman and you make the weather more important than her of course your going to hear about it no matter who your with. If you care about who your with then you will seek to understand why they react the way the do when it comes to the weather. If you dont care than your just in it for the ass which is wrong because eventually you will get someone pregnant and if its not who your willing to spend the rest of your life with your robbing your child of knowing what its like to have both a mom and a dad together which a child so desperatley needs. Bottom line is if your with someone that you do care about learn what it is that will bring balance in your relationship. If you dont care your wasting your time and eventually you will split which aint that bad either cause the single life has its perks.

 

[Bill Hark]

I guess I am very lucky as my wife doesn't bitch about the storm chasing. She knew that storms and I are a package deal. While we were dating, I spent some time teaching her about storm chasing and weather forecasting. This has helped her get an appreciation of the beauty of storms and the difficulty of chasing. Although she would love to see a tornado, she isn't interested in experiencing the chaser lifestyle of long trips, crummy hotels, food from gas stations and sitting in a corn field for hours and the cap never breaks. In addition teaching her about chasing, I have been noncommittal about any activities during the spring. She knows that late May is sacred and that I may have to back out of a planned activity if severe weather is expected. This has set the standard of our relationship from the beginning.

One of her friends once asked her about my chasing. My wife said that it is very important for a healthy relationship that each person have some of their own interests in addition to shared interests. I have my chasing and she has her music teaching and singing opera. She also said that she'd rather have me chase storms (far more interesting) than sitting front of the TV everyday watching sports and drinking beer or constantly going to strip clubs or pool halls.

Bill Hark

 

[Andrew Pritchard]

My girlfriend actually went on her first chase with me earlier this week. Of course, it was a little crap chase, but it was kinda fun to take her out in the field (though she kept wanting to play games on my laptop while I had GR3 running). She's known since we met that I was a weather nerd, and that during the spring my mind would be elsewhere at times. She's not a weather weenie, but has taken a little interest in what I do, because it's a huge part of my life. She'll sit down from time to time and watch a fellow chaser's dvd, or program on tv with me and even enjoys seeing my video after I go out for a chase myself. Guess I found a keeper... Thought, I'll keep my mouth shut til a big outbreak comes on a day when we have pre-arranged plans.

 

[Adam Ball]

Fortunatly I've got a fiance that loves chasing as much as I do. I'd get my head chewn off if I ever when chasing without her. I suppose that's a good problem to have.

Of course I promised her a tornado since 2005, and well... we all know how it's been since 05. I get reminded of that all the time. Oh well.

 

[Mikey Gribble]

I don't know how long you've been dating her Pritchard, but in my experience it gets worse with tiime (at least in the first year). At the begining of the relationship neither person is very demanding of the others attention because you aren't used to having that attention and therefore don't have any expectations of the other person.

 

[Susan Strom]

This is one that leaves me scratching my head as well; is there an answer? Fisherman's dilemma?

Often it is exactly like what David said; they always seem cool with it...for awhile. I am always totally honest about it up front and it is a very obvious part of my life. But as relationships progress, inevitably someone wants to whittle the chase time away. That just won't do for me.

I once had a guy tell me that he was the ideal man for me. We had known each other for years as friends, so he was well aware of my "avocation". Then one day he said, "it's only a few months a year, right?" At that point I realized he is NOT the ideal man for me, even though we were great friends. He saw an image of me of something he wanted, but not the true person, lightning bolts, blowing sand, and all.

Good friends we were...but not a match. So off he went, and is now happily married to a nice girl who does not feel the need to drive into the Central Deserts at 3am because the sky starts flashing. And I'm happily single, because I drive into the Central Deserts at 3am because the sky starts flashing.

So I guess there is an answer, be true to your core nature and you'll attract the right match, at least you'll have a better chance eventually. It might take awhile...but the alternative is worse. I will never date someone who secretly wants to change me...from chasing, to my political views, spiritual beliefs, love of the outdoors, the way I dress or do my hair. That tells me that either the man doesn't see me as who I really am, or does see me but wants me to be someone else, which is a really negative way to live and won't do.

Maybe the secret is to date someone who is comfortable enough in his/her own life that he or she will just love you for who you are as well, even if you do set your watch to UTC. And, he or she will enjoy your respect of his/her hobbies, passions, or line of work in kind. That's only fair after all.

Hard to find, but at least there is hope.

 

[Shane Adams]

I guess on the bright side, a rocky relationship usually lends itself to incredible sex....that might be the foundation in some cases LOL.

 

[Dan Robinson]

As I get older I am realizing that the chaser's personality is not one that meshes well with relationships and marriage. We are people of the road and of the storm. We will go insane if that is not available to us. People that understand and support the chasing lifestyle are a rarer breed than just about any other personality type in the world. That narrows the realistic prospect field immensly. As a Christian, my standards there narrow the field even more, beyond hope of anything but a spectacularly divine intervention. I've stopped looking now because it's a waste of time and money. A date on Friday night at a nice restaurant is more expensive than a chase day.

I'm getting less optimistic as each year passes. That's OK, as it's not bothering me anymore. I'm enjoying life to the fullest and not looking to change anything yet.

 

[Bill Schintler]

I'm 43 and (still) single... There's a reason for it...the ladies don't dig a guy who wants to take a 3 week chase vacation each spring. For every chase day during the vacation (more then 50 % of the time, get up first thing in the morning and look at WX data for an hour, chase for the next 8-16 hours (depending on what's going on during a particular day and how much driving is required), then check into the motel and look at WX data for the next day. But, hell, to each his own...
- bill