For the past week now, Mrs LarryD has been away on a business trip to southern California, leaving me home with the Sons. She didn't want to go - but there are worse destinations than San Diego in January.
And she doesn't return until next Friday evening.
This represents the longest we've been apart from each other since we were married. There have been the occasional weekend here or there - but nothing close to 14 days. It's been an interesting experience thus far.
There are good things to report:
* the dishwasher has been run, emptied and refilled more than once.
* clothes have been taken care of properly. Even mine.
* neither the cat nor the fish have died. So that's good.
* the Sons made it out the door each morning on time for the bus - and they even returned each afternoon.
* no episodes of food poisoning. Bonus!
* no unidentifiable fuzzy growths on the kitchen counters or inside the refrigerator. Or in the showers either.
* the house plants are thriving, provided I remember to water them today.
Lest you think I'm one of those husbands who doesn't know the difference between a stove and an oven, or how to operate a washer and dryer, or even know where the vacuum cleaner is kept, I ought to tell you that way back when, one way in which I wooed my wife was by cooking for her. When we were dating, I would show up at her apartment with grocery bags of ingredients and whip up dinner for two. Even now, I prepare dinners 90% of the time (and breakfast, and everyone's lunches). So, no, it hasn't been only fast food and pizza since last Saturday. I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm cook, cleaner and chief bottle washer all the time - but my mother made sure that none of her sons were unskilled in domestic matters.
However....
...it is lonely, not having the love of my life around. Phone calls and texts are a poor substitute for face-to-face conversations. The bed seems bigger, the house a bit larger. One less person around to groan at my awful puns. The Sons, being teenagers (Younger becomes an 'official' one in 5 months), are managing just fine, and there's probably a small part of them that's quite thankful they only have one parent to deal with. Fortunately, they climbed out of the "clingy" phase just within the past few months....just kidding! They miss their mom - but I can only imagine how difficult it would be if they were toddlers or young 'uns. They've been helpful when called upon, and have (for the most part) resisted the urge to get on each other's last nerve. For which I'm grateful.
Still - I can only imagine how single parents manage every day. With me, I know she's coming back. Single parents, though....no one "comes back". I don't have to be both the dad and the mom - because the mom is coming back. Like I said, with the Sons being older, and independent in their own ways, this two week separation isn't a real killer. So it's only in a really really small way that I can somewhat appreciate the trials and tests single parents have to endure every day. They have it tough, and they deserve all the help they're willing to receive - prayers, assistance from friends and the church, and so on.
So, one week down, one more to go. I'm looking forward to picking her up from the airport next Friday. I know this period of separation is nothing compared to what some of my readers have gone through - especially for those of you in the military. But for me, and for Mrs LarryD, it's a new experience - which is kinda cool, considering we've got twenty years of marriage behind us. It's good for a relationship to experience new stuff together, even if it means having to be apart in order to do so.
Instant "Acts"ess
