I want to be a supportive wife. Does that mean I need to lose my friend?

Ipull into Dr. Kramer’s parking lot to pick up Tzippy from her orthodontist appointment just as my car Bluetooth pings. It reads the incoming text aloud robotically.

“Are we excited for Summer Week at the Hilton? Three weeks and counting!”

I grin. Yes! I’m totally excited, actually.

You’d think it’d get old, but it doesn’t. I guess the same way Shabbos and Yom Tov don’t get old, either? But also, I’ve always loved hotels. Even as a kid, when the fanciest place we ever went to was a motel on the way to Toronto for a bar mitzvah, I’d just loved the possibility of it all. Hotels were places where things happened. Plus, filling the ice bucket was always fun. And now, hotels were kind of my life.

It took a few years of Shneur slaving away at the wine store, but he’d promised me the world and he made it happen.

When a client ordered wine for a hotel getaway for parents of children with special needs, he somehow got swept up in more than just the wine. The client was so impressed, he offered him a job.

That’s Shneur. Everything he does, he does like someone’s watching. And grading him. It pays off. That gig eventually morphed into TourNTravel. Sort of. Shneur actually went out on his own after someone introduced him to Akiva Weinstein: a man with none of Shneur’s pizzazz, but a head for business, chock-full of good ideas. All he’d needed was Shneur to implement them.

Is Akiva the brains and Shneur the brawn? The point is, together they run TourNTravel with heart, finesse, and baruch Hashem, success. Shneur is technically the boss, but the two act more like partners, really. Shneur respects Akiva. He admires him, which is a rare thing in ShneurLand. Like, yes, Shneur pays Akiva’s salary, but they pretty much discuss everything together, making both creative and financial decisions. And more than that, they balance each other out. Shneur deals with public relations and bookings and details and dates and Akiva creates itineraries, does cold calls, and writes up ads.

Nowadays, Shneur provides me with a very comfortable lifestyle, and I try not to remember those wine store years too clearly. I don’t have to work, I have full-time cleaning help, I can dress my kids and myself in the latest frum styles. Yes, my husband works hard. Yes, he’s on during Yom Tov when most people are finally relaxing. But there’s a price for dreams, and this is mine. I’m not crying rivers about it.

Lucky for me, Ahuva Weinstein is in the exact same boat. When you don’t have your husband fully present on Yom Tov, it’s important to have someone you enjoy spending time with. And when your husbands run a tour program together, you get to spend a lot of time together. Early Succos morning, bedikas chometz night, winter ski trips.