Rig Wives

By Kelly Earle

"We live our lives one hitch at a time. Along with that come tears of anxiety and stress when trying to hold it all together. But then there is the laughter and comfort when surrounded by the right people, the ones we have grown close to, who have become our family and friends, our rocks some days: our fellow rig wives. The offshore is not for the faint of heart. The ocean can be a dark and lonely place. Our husbands risk their lives every time they go to work. While some people’s relationships dissolve, others stand tall. Only the strong survive."

Kelly Earle’s husband, who works offshore in the oil industry, inspired her to write Rig Wives. Interviews with other rig wives tell the stories of the women who wait. Their tales of determination, perseverance, and camaraderie, while their husbands engage in one of the most dangerous occupations in the world, are an inspiration to all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Flanker Press
• Release date: Jun 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781774570784

Kelly Earle

Kelly Earle was born and raised in St. John’s, Newfoundland. She went from being a young entrepreneur to working in the financial industry to becoming a stay-at-home mom. Her husband, Jamie, from Twillingate, works in the oil industry. This inspired Kelly to write Rig Wives, which is her first book. When she has some free time, Kelly enjoys hiking, campfires, her new-found love for writing, date nights with Jamie, and get-togethers with her friends and family. Kelly, her husband, and their three children reside in Torbay, Newfoundland.

Book preview

Rig Wives

edited by Kelly Earle

Flanker Press Limited

St. John’s

For Jamie

Copyright

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Rig wives : stories / edited by Kelly Earle.

Names: Earle, Kelly, editor.

Description: Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20220231028 | Canadiana (ebook) 20220231184 | ISBN 9781774570777 (softcover) | ISBN 9781774570784 (EPUB) | ISBN 9781774570791 (PDF)

Subjects: LCSH: Offshore oil industry—Employees. | LCSH: Wives.

Classification: LCC HD8039.O34 R54 2022 | DDC 622/.338—dc23

© 2022 by Kelly Earle

All Rights Reserved. No part of the work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic or mechanical—without the written permission of the publisher. Any request for photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems of any part of this book shall be directed to Access Copyright, The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, 1 Yonge Street, Suite 800, Toronto, ON M5E 1E5. This applies to classroom use as well. For an Access Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll-free to 1-800-893-5777.

Printed in Canada

Cover design by Graham Blair Cover photos by Sara Rostotski

Flanker Press Ltd.

1243 Kenmount Road, Unit 1

Paradise, NL

Canada

Telephone: [phone] Fax: [phone] Toll-free: 1-866-739-4420

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Three logos recognizing government funding, Government of Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador

We acknowledge the [financial] support of the Government of Canada. Nous reconnaissons l’appui [financier] du gouvernement du Canada. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation for our publishing activities.

An Oil Field Wife

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An oil field wife must be a strong woman,

For she has to be the mom and dad for most of the year,

An oil field wife keeps her phone close because she never wants to miss that special call.

An oil field wife doesn’t get to kiss her husband

Good night every night,

An oil field wife has to deal with everything

While her oil field man is gone.

An oil field wife will do two birthday parties and two Christmases a year so her oil field man

Can be there for one of them.

But most of all, an oil field wife will go to bed alone

Most of the year, sleep on her husband’s pillow,

And thank God she has a strong man who is willing to sacrifice his life for her.

Oil field wives must stick together.

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— Author Unknown

Newfoundland and Labrador Oil Fields

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A large oil rig with cranes on the side sits in ocean water.

Hibernia is an oil field in the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately 315 kilometres east-southeast of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, in 80 metres of water. The production platform is the world’s largest oil platform.

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Oil workers discovered Newfoundland and Labrador’s first commercial offshore oil field in 1979 after about thirteen years of exploratory drilling in offshore waters. Known as Hibernia, the oil field is located on the Grand Banks in the Jeanne d’Arc Basin, about 315 kilometres east of St. John’s. Construction of the Hibernia platform and other oil-extraction structures began in 1990, and the development produced its first barrel of oil in 1997. Industry and government officials estimate the oil field holds about 884 million barrels of retrievable oil, making it the province’s largest producing field to date.

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Reference: https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/economy/oil-economy.php

Part 1

The Rig Wife Life

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"Thank you for calling Cougar Helicopters."

That is what I faintly hear from the phone, while drifting in and out of sleep, as my husband gets ready to head back offshore for another three-week hitch. Every time I hear him check the flight information line to see if his flight is still on time, I am always hoping it will be delayed or cancelled. Delayed for a few more hours or cancelled for another day. That would mean a few more hours so we could have breakfast together, so he could say goodbye to our kids, so we can go for a drive and grab a coffee, perhaps another day we get to have dinner together, spend one more night together, or read the kids a bedtime story and tuck them into bed. Yes, three weeks may not be a long time to some people, but it is a long time for anyone to be away from their family.

When I first met Jamie back in March of 2007, on St. Patrick’s Day, actually, the first thing I noticed about him was the dimple on the left side of his cheek. Sounds silly, hey? But I absolutely adored it, and his smile would light up a room. He had such charisma about him that drew me to him as soon as we met, which made me believe this was the man I was going to marry. We went out on a few dates after the night we met, and then he had to go offshore. I remember thinking, Well, I guess he will forget about me now after three weeks. But surprisingly, he called a few times a week. We sent emails back and forth and even chatted on MSN Messenger when we were both supposed to be working. I remember not being able to sleep the night before he was due home. I was like a child on Christmas Eve. We had only met the week or so before he went back to work, and already I was super-excited for him to get back.

At the time, I was working with home and auto insurance, before moving on to life insurance and mutual funds in the financial industry. I didn’t really see myself as being a rig wife. I had always seen my future as the typical both-parents-working and raising a couple of kids. Now, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate my husband so much and for everything he does for our family. I’m sure it’s not easy for him to leave for work, and it’s definitely not easy for me to watch him go. I often joke with him saying that he gets to go on a three-week vacation and leave me home with three small kids. But from the stories I hear and the stress he endures, it’s not all glamorous out there, either.

People have said to me, I don’t know how you do it, Jamie being gone all the time.

I always say, It isn’t easy, but we are used to this life now, and we make it work.

My husband provides for me and our family, and I run the household and raise the kids . . . sometimes I wonder who has it worse! Neither of us has an easy job. We don’t get sick days, we both deal with different stresses, some days we may miss lunch . . . you get the picture. At the end of the day, he goes to sleep in a toddler-sized bed, he jokes, and I get to sleep in our adult-sized bed. At least we get to stay in contact at some point during the day by email, FaceTime, Messenger, or a phone call. But it’s still hard at times. At first the sadness of waiting for your life to start when he gets home would wear at me, but then I learned to go do my own things without feeling the guilt of having fun without him. I actually used to feel guilty doing things without him. For the last fourteen years, our lives have been playing the countdown game weeks and days at a time. Over the years, I have come to appreciate that we do get time to miss each other. We get to experience that honeymoon stage each time he returns home. Call it what you like, but I enjoy that feeling.

Right now, he is one of the lucky ones—he is still holding onto his oil field job. So many people have lost their jobs in the last few years, and I really feel for those families. I have spent many nights lying in bed alone, wondering what would happen if Jamie lost his job. I have spent the last seven years raising and taking care of our children as a stay-at-home mom. I have lost all the skills and experience I once had and have no recent experience in my post-secondary education. I would have to update all of my courses or start a new program and begin working again—which is my plan once the twins are in school—but what I would make would supplement my husband’s salary. Then I start stressing: it’s 2:00 a.m.; I should be sleeping. But no, this is me most nights after everyone else is sleeping. Then I get a text—it’s another sister rig wife.

Are you awake? she writes.

Yep . . . what’s wrong? Everything okay? I text back.

Everything’s fine, I just can’t sleep, she responds. We end up texting back and forth for a little while, just for comfort and to reassure each other that we will be okay and our men will be home soon.

With the prolonged consistency, I find the days bleed into each other. I try to keep myself and the kids occupied, which isn’t hard when we have gymnastics, skating, and swimming. Then our eldest daughter has school during the week and the twins are in daycare part-time, so there isn’t much time for them to become too upset about Daddy being gone. I get a couple of days a week to myself from about nine in the morning until three in the afternoon. I try to keep the house somewhat in order, only for it to be wrecked and dirty again once everyone gets back home. I fish out the cleaning products, the mop, get everything up off the floor—then the phone rings.