They finally got home around 4AM.
Thanks to all who provided emotional support. You may be a bunch of internet strangers, but you’re the best internet strangers anyone could ask for 
That’s not worry. That’s a vacation.
Shirley, I’ve always thought you were a reasonable and sane poster until post number 58 in this thread. What is so goddamned out-of-line about worrying a great deal about people (including your own four small kids) are a number of hours overdue on a long drive, and not responding in any way to your attempts to communicate with them? There are a lot of traffic accidents out there!
Is worry useful? Generally not. But it’s pretty damned natural for anyone whose emotions are very much involved - in fact, I’d think it would be close to a perpetual state while raising that many kids! EJ wasn’t having panic attacks, he wasn’t hyperventilating or any of the physical responses a true panic attack entails, his responses were reasonable ones - calling the likely contact numbers, checking into public info for any possible relevant large-scale news, and holding off pursuing it in more detail for a while longer. In what way does he need help, or did that “ruin everything around it.” I’d love to know just what *you * think he should have been doing instead.
Well, I remember adult life well before the existence of cell phones, and I always found a way to contact home if my plans changed. It was just less convenient before cell phones existed. My perceptions and requirements in this respect haven’t change one bit! There *were * other ways to communicate prior to cell phones.
And yes, things were different prior to telephones and cars. But none of us were alive then, and we have all grown up in a culture where communication from anywhere in the US to anywhere in the US was perfectly possible.
You probably don’t consider wearing the same clothing (unwashed) for months at a time to be acceptable. And yet most people used to do so. Amazing how perceptions and requirements change, isn’t it?
While EJs concern may have been a tad excessive, his wife’s behavior was flat out rude, unless there’s some kind of behind-the-scenes reason for it. Being gone all day and night and getting back at 4AM with 4 small children? Something ain’t right.
My mother called home the other day when she decided to run a couple of extra errands on her way home from work-- since I couldn’t remember what the first errand was supposed to be, I hadn’t gotten worried yet. My dad on the other hand, got a lecture on Sunday for worrying us, and I doubt he’d been “missing” for more than 15 minutes. Now that’s a little silly(of those of us who were worrying) , but if I were going to be several hours later than planned, I’d give the person waiting for me a head’s up.
I’ve requested the thread be closed, as I don’t want this to turn into a fight.
She may occasionally be inconsiderate, but it’s not malicious - she really doesn’t realize people get worred about her. What can I say, we’ve both got our issues.
(And FWIW I’m told that she’s in for quite the ass-chewing from her friends. So I wasn’t the only one worried here.)
Does that same freedom apply to me?
Really, you didn’t mean that when you said this
[QUOTE=newscrashers first post to the thread ]
However…and I know you didn’t ask, but I am going to say it anyway…
This behavior from your wife is completely unacceptable. Not only is she your wife, and you are concerned for her well being while she is travelling, but they are YOUR KIDS! You should never be unduly concerned about the whereabouts of your kids because your wife decides to simply “make a day” in the city. You deserve a call. The deep dreadful feeling of not knowing where your kids are is not something that should be inflicted on you by your wife.
I once dated a girl who would get “distracted”. She would call me saying she was on the way to my house, then 3 hours later she would show up saying she had run into a friend, or she went shopping, or whatever. My BS meter was tripped on many occassions, and regardless of why she was unreachable and late, she never gave me the courtesy of a call. She knew I was worried when she did that, but it did not register high enough on her list of priorities to warrant a call. This chick was simply self absorbed and held me in little regard. All that mattered to her was that she was doing what she wanted to do at the moment, other people and future ramifications be damned.
I cannot fathom being placed in a similar situation where I could not find my kids because of my wife.
Not to upset you or anything man, but this girl had other “responsibility” issues like money and honesty among other things. I think you know what I am saying. Just be careful. If it sounds like BS and smells like BS, it probably is…BS. (bolding added0 [\QUOTE]
Then I came to your last sentence. Do we live in Saudi Arabia…? And I realized you are completely and utterly a hyperbolic windbag worthy of complete dismissal. Our paths have not crossed thus far on the SDMB. Seeing how unfeeling you are when a man fears for the safety of his kids makes me glad to have our paths remain separate. I don’t think it is out of line for me to point out that someone who throws out “you need help” so quickly and freely probably needs it himself.
So is that some sort of way of saying I’m on your ignore list?
I’ll repeat it for you since you didn’t get it in my last post. I waited till after he knew they were safe, before I said anything. That means, they weren’t missing and I was not being unfeeling while he was worried about the saftey of his wife and kids. Quite accusing me of things I did not do.
??? You weren’t alive before the mid ninetes? This is about the time cell phones got really popular.
[crotchy old man] Listen you young whipersnaper! Back in the day* if you wanted to phone home from the road you either had to make a collect call or have a metric buttload of quarters, nickeles and dimes in your pocket. (Please deposit $2.35 cents for the first 3 minutes) Collect calls were way more expensive so people only made them if they had to. Both of these assumed that you could find a working pay phone. [/COM]
*The day here being before about the mid to late 1970’s when telephone credit cards came on the scene.
Okay, I let the “drama queen” accusation go because, admittedly, there are times it can be used without being an insult and I felt you were fairly teetering on the edge. This, however, is a clear insult, and you’ve been here long enough to know that insults aren’t allowed outside the Pit. Please don’t do this again.
Also, the thread is closed as requested by the OP.
My ex-wife used to drive me crazy with things like this. She would go out and tell me, “I’ll be home by 11. See you then.” I would suggest that 11 seemed a bit early considering where she was travelling to so I wouldn’t wait up. She would then insist that she didn’t want a late night and was only going out of obligation blah blah blah. She would then arrive home hours after the time she had assured me she would be home and I got to spend all that time worrying about her welfare. In the end I just banned her from telling me her plans and that worked fine, I stopped worrying.
Of course this was before the ubiquitous mobile phone. Nowadays it would be no problem at all, assuming her phone was on/working.
Okay, I messed up. I warned Zebra for saying something he didn’t say. With the screwed-up quote tags, it looks like he was calling newcrasher a “windbag” when, in fact, it was the other way around.
My apologies, Zebra.
Okay, newscrasher: let me repeat what I said to Zebra in that you have certainly been here long enough to know better than to insult another poster outside of the Pit. Please do not do this again.