Ideally, you should be married to answer this; otherwise, it is NOT the same:
How independent/dependent is your spouse? Can you do your own thing, or do you have a ball and chain? My boss has a great relationship with his wife. Would you believe he took the kids to Disney World as she stayed home to do her own thing? Wow! Now, there’s a chart topper! Is that just unheard of? Can you top that? OTOH, how many have more of a ball and chain relationship? - Jinx
…and no, Orlando is NOT just around the corner, either!
Too damned independent if you ask me. Downright uppity in fact. 
Uppity? Does she smack you around? Just LOLing 
But seriously, she’s pretty good at doing her own thing, I take it? Do you, in fact, feel you’re more dependent on her than she is upon you? I guess too much either way isn’t a good thing, huh?
Well, we made all of the accomodations necessary so long ago that I’ve forgotten whether or not they came out even.
Ignorance of the marriage contract is no excuse!
Thanks for being a good sport…
I went to germany in feb for 3 weeks to visit a male friend, mrAru stayed home. mrAru has gone to visit california without me 3 or 4 times He used to go to sea for weeks and months at a time without me…that answer your question?
As much as hubbynew and I enjoy being together, we easily spend time apart. He is often out of town Monday thru Friday. Sometimes when he’s home, I’ll go hang out with a friend while he’s holding down the fort here. A couple of times, I’ve had opportunities to go to Ocean City with some folks, family not included, and he was happy to be able to stay home and run things so I could go. We’re not completely independent of one another (if we were, I’m not sure I’d see the point in being married; we’re Life Partners, y’know?). We both think that our time apart makes our time together that much more enjoyable. YMMV.
For me, it’s a requirement that I can trust my wife to make intelligent decisions on her own. I’ve known guys who lived in fear that “the little woman” would order $5,000 worth of stuff on the Home Shopping Network while hubby was at work. I could not accept that. She and I have both done some solo travelling. She doesn’t like smoky bars, so when I go to the bar, I go alone.
IMO, if you can’t trust your spouse, you aren’t really married.
By the way, we’ve been married for 25 years.
Mrs. D and I often go out to “do our own thing”, especially now when we have kids. She just recently left me for 3 days to go visit her great aunt who lives out of state. I go to couple magic conventions every year without her. When she needs a night out, she takes it. Likewise with me. We are very supportive of each others need for time off.
More independent than either she or I realy like, but it’s my fault for getting a job in a different country. We’ve spent nearly 2 years with her in Australia while our youngest finished high school and I continued to work in the US; at present, she is in Australia for 4 weeks and I stay here. (And a couple of times, we’ve done it the other way, with me in Australia and her in the US). However, we really don’t like spending that much time apart: it’s forced on us by circumstances.
Well, my mom & I visit Disney World once or twice a year together - we bond there, Dad doesn’t come. But then again, I’m 30 - so maybe this isn’t quite the same as your example.
Susan
In the summer of 2003 I went with a friend to France for a handbell festival. It was fabulous! I really want to go to the festival in the summer of 2005 which is in Italy. But I’m not sure if we can afford it.
Now I hear that Mr. Lillith (a bicycle fanatic) is tentatively planning to a) go to France to ride with some other amateur cyclists on a stage of the Tour de France (not the same day as the real riders); and b) buy a new bicycle for this trip, as none of the FOUR bicycles he already owns is geared right for it.
So I’m thinking: either I’m going with him or I’m going to Italy.
Can we afford it? Not really. Also, the darling daughter will graduate from high school in 2006 so college is looming and she will not be getting scholarships.
What do you think? How could I earn enough for my trip (@ $4000) so he really couldn’t complain about me going? He says he didn’t spend his bonus last year (I don’t get a bonus at my job) and he didn’t spend the $5000 inheritance from his grandma dying last year (I’m definintely not getting any inheritance). He also makes more than me.
We have little sayings here at Chateau Ujest:
My wife would be alot more easier to handle if she were only obedient.
My life would be easier if my husband were stupid and listened to orders.
I’m more independent than he is. I’ve been on several short trips without him and I plan on going to Italy in January by myself for about 3 weeks. All in all though, we prefer to spend time together and do things together. It’s funny, I’ll go to Florida by myself, but I would never dream of driving to LA to go to a concert by myself. He’s my best friend and I like to hang out with him.
We do our own thing fairly often. My husband isn’t dependent on me, but he does need less alone time, so on the weekends I frequently do my own thing during the day and we meet again in the evening to do stuff together. Also, I often visit family out of town while he stays here. I know he misses me when I’m gone, and I miss him, too, but sometimes it’s best for my sanity and his safety if I spend time alone. Also, he’s got stuff to do that just doesn’t involve me, which I definitely understand. Sometimes it’s just easier to get your stuff done when your spouse isn’t around or when you’ve left the house.
The hubby and I like to spend time together, so we usually plan vacations together. I have to travel sometimes for work without him. I miss him, but we usually just keep in touch by e-mail.
He spends a up to two nights a week with his friends, which is fine with me. He goes to one guy’s house to play collectible card games, which I’m not interested in, and he runs a role-playing game in a genre and system I don’t like at another friend’s house every other week. This gives me an evening of two per week of “alone time,” which I value—scratch that, which I need—so I don’t mind at all.
We’ve been accused of having a ball & chain relationship by friends because one thing we are a bit obsessive about is making sure we know where the other person is. But, then, it’s not clear which of us is the ball and which one the chained. 
If it’s an hour later than he said he’d be home, I do worry, and I call his cell phone (or his friend’s house, if he’s forgotten his cell phone again) to find out what the hell is going on. But usually if he’s going to be late he calls me. It doesn’t bother me if he’s late, as long as he calls so I know he’s not dead in a ditch. Similarly, if one of us is going to stop at the store on the way home from work we’ll call and leave a message on the answering machine so the other person doesn’t worry if they come home to an empty house. So we are kind of clingy that way.
I’m really only dependent on my wife for a ride home from work. Other than that, we have lots of personal freedom to do whatever. We each have our own interests that we pursue. She’s in the living room and I’m in the room down the hall. During our 6 1/2 year marriage, weve gone on one vacation together, to Los Angeles in 2000. I flew back to visit Canada once without her, and she has been to visit friends in New England twice without me. Our view is that we’re not tethered to each other. If one of us wants to go somewhere important, but we can’t get the same time off work, or for instance, there’s no point in my going to visit her friends, I don’t know them, so it isn’t a problem if she just goes by herself.
We pretty much know where each other is at any given time. It’s not an issue that we always have to know. I told her when she promised to marry me that I’d treat her like an adult. I’m not her boss and she isn’t mine, we are striving for the same goals and acting accordingly.
We’re both quite independent in not minding the other doing their own thing or going somewhere alone. We’ve both gone on vacations by ourselves when the other can’t or doesn’t want to go.
That said, we also tend to do quite a bit together. This makes me happy as it’s the best of both worlds – a spouse who has no problem letting me do my own thing and vice versa, but who I love doing things with enough that it doesn’t come up that often.
We just celebrated our 40th anniversary. When we married, I was still in college, at a school at least a 45 minute drive away, and was active in the college newspaper. It was a given that I would keep irregular hours. It was also a given that if the Mister wanted to go play pool with his pals, that was o.k., too.
We like to spend time together and travel together, but we also both have interests the other doesn’t share. Sometimes it’s just nice to go off on your own and not have to be concerned about anyone’s needs except you own.
Right now, I’m working and get 3 weeks vacation per year. Before he retired, Mr. MLS got about 6 weeks per year. Now he has 52! It would be ridiculous for him not to go places and do things that he wants to do even if I have not the time or --in some cases – the interest in them. I mean, I didn’t WANT to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Why shouldn’t he have done it? Some people think we’re odd.