Collateral Duty?

Most of you know from the tone of my posts the last couple of days that my husband is gone again. I believe our boat has something like a 78% sea to land ratio. In other words, they aren't home very much. I am so looking forward to some down time and shore duty that I can't even tell you!
I know that it's hard to be gone and work as hard as my husband does. That said though, it takes what, like five seconds to write an e-mail? Honestly? I haven't had a single e-mail since he left, which to be honest sadly isn't all that unusual. Still, it occassionally hurts when I hear from my friends who have gotten e-mails and even phone calls. It makes me feel like I'm not important enough for him to take five seconds out of his day.
Usually I am calm and rational enough to realize that this line of thinking is ridiculous, but this week, I have been anything but calm and rational. It's been one hell of an emotional rollercoaster on so many levels. It's been to such a degree that even my previous captain's wife was worried about me and called to check on me. God, I miss her.
Thankfully, I have such good friends on the boat. One of them told her husband to tell my husband to get off his tush and send me a flippin e-mail. ( Thanks Steph, you rock!!! And so does Chad!) So, I finally get an e-mail from my loving husband. He tells me he loves me and thinks of me always, that he's been busy with charts and he ends the e-mail with "I'm off to watch now so that Chad can get another of his collateral duties." When he gets home, he's going to find my floral combat boots up his collateral behind. E-mailing your wife isn't something someone else should need to even mention, let alone request on her behalf. Men! I love mine but he needs to get his priorities straight! I mean, I am much more important than successfully navigating a billion dollar nuclear powered submarine! ( and for those that don't know me, this is totally me poking fun at myself!)