Warning Signs Needed

For the last few months, my husband has been complaining about his job. He doesn't enjoy it anymore and he hates his boss and he has no freedom to do his work, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. This attitude has also affected his work, and people in his office have said things that sound like they know he's not going to last much longer, either. Just to go with that, though, about every other day for a while there he kept coming home saying he almost quit.

In these past few weeks, the project they've been working on all year is coming to completion. Please don't ask me to explain the project. It's something necessary in astronomy-land, and that will just have to be enough information. He and a handful of other folks on the project have been working increasing numbers of hours to try and make last Monday's deadline, which they didn't. He's been going to work between 9 and 10am, and coming home between 2 and 4am. Every day. Trying to get this thing done. And things are not going well.

So after a week of this, and an increasingly tired husband and an increasingly tired Heather (it's hard to sleep when you don't know when your husband is coming home), he calls me at work yesterday afternoon.

Hubby> What are your plans tonight?
Heather> I thought I'd help a friend unpack some stuff after moving. Why? What's up?
Hubby> Well...I don't have to work tonight. Or tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after that. Can I cook you dinner or something?
Heather> Really? Um...sure...dinner would be nice. What's going on?
Hubby> I gotta go pack up my things and go home. See you tonight!
(Click.)

I don't know how you interpret a call like that, but I will tell you he sounded forcibly cheery, and he never calls me at work. I was sure he no longer had a job. But I had to know whether he quit or whether his employer decided he was done. It took me an hour to get back in touch with him. Apparently, the project was scrapped, not his job. Ack! Where was my Crazy Husband Warning Sign?