New Week
Today marks the first day of my week - and yours as well. It also marks the first day of my week where I'll be all alone. Yes, Jeff will be away on business travel until Friday night and we are both out of practice.
When we lived in California, Jeff was a regular road warrior and was gone more than he was home and it was what we expected and what we knew. Since we moved here his road trips have been rare almost to the point of non-existence. And, we have gotten used to Jeff being home all the time.
Today, though his bag is packed, laptop charged, headphones ready and lunch prepared for his trip this morning to the West Coast. It will feel odd today to receive no emails or phone calls from him while I'm at work. Stranger still will be coming home to an empty house and the long stretch of a solo evening before me.
When the boys were little and Jeff traveled, we indulged ourselves in dinners of Happy Meals, macaroni and cheese or pizza and chocolate pudding or ice cream for dessert. We went to G rated movies in the evenings if their homework was done - basically we pretended we were away at some kind of camp. And we survived. Living in California has one thing going for it that Maryland does not. First and foremost there is no weather, it's either 70 degrees or 110 depending on the month of the year. No worries about snow, ice, sleet or for much of the time even rain. Here winter weather puts me in a tailspin at the mere mention of the "s" word. There will be no "weather" to contend with this time and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that remains the case as Jeff begins to travel more.
We're both out of practice about getting him ready to go on the road. We struggled more last night with packing than we used to, and had to make sure he was within the three ounces limit on toiletries. When you travel regularly you get a routine down to a science and clearly we have none. Things are a little different at home than they used to be too - I no longer have children to care for by myself in the evening - no now I have the family business to deal with. If I had to vote for one or the other - I'd take the children every time!
Plane travel has changed a great deal and not for the better. There is little if any food on the planes and you travel in steerage shoulder-to-shoulder with little or no amenities. Gone are the glory days of plane travel. A few trips on a commercial plane will make Jeff long for a certain little plane sitting in Frederick!
On the plus side I remain hopeful that while Jeff is in California he will be able to sneak through an In-n-Out restaurant. They make the most spectacular hamburgers anywhere and french fries are cooked fresh for your order. It's not a "fast" fast food place - but the wait is worth every minute.
To buck myself up I have loaded up my Tivo with hours of silly, useless shows (the kind I particularly like) and my freezer is stocked with single person meals. I'm sure that tonight I will enjoy plopping down on the sofa with remote in hand to watch my shows - but it's more than likely that my enjoyment will fade as the week goes on. A little silence is sometimes a good thing. A week of silence is not.
Happy travels to anyone with a suitcase sitting by the front door.
P
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