I Wanna Go Home
I stumbled back home last night almost 36 hours after I left. I spent the weekend in northern Minnesota working on a freelance basis for my former employer. Now I can say I’m contributing more to the nation’s economy than just buying slightly stained and possibly burned clothing secondhand. This was by far the longest stretch that I have spent away from home and away from Abbie since her birth, which can be quite a shock considering I take care of her for virtually every waking moment. The only other significant time I spent separated from her was when Ellie took her to see her family for a few days, but at least I was home and could stick to a routine then. This weekend I stepped back into a childless world that previously only existed in memory, like revisiting the world before the fall of the Berlin Wall or the world before Britney got married.
Most of the differences between the worlds revolved around the fact that I could do stuff without being interrupted. We did a lot of driving, and instead of needing to stop every couple of hours to feed her or change her, we only had to stop every couple of hours to eat or go to the bathroom. Okay, that’s a bad example, but trust me when I say the stops were much shorter. Here’s a better example, I could eat a meal in peace without being interrupted to do things like grab another course for Abbie, refill her Cheerios again, or extinguish the napkin that caught fire when she threw it on the stove top. Being able to sleep in would be an even better example except I had to wake up even earlier than usual while on the road.
I’m glad to be back home where the pillow on my bed is familiar and the milk on my cereal is skim. Did I miss Abbie? Absolutely. Upon returning home, she was the third person whose weekend I asked my wife about (the pecking order went my wife, my mother, who was nice enough to help out in my absence, then Abbie). Now I can return to my normal routine of caring for Abbie and contributing sales of ingredients for homemade baby food to the national economy.
Most of the differences between the worlds revolved around the fact that I could do stuff without being interrupted. We did a lot of driving, and instead of needing to stop every couple of hours to feed her or change her, we only had to stop every couple of hours to eat or go to the bathroom. Okay, that’s a bad example, but trust me when I say the stops were much shorter. Here’s a better example, I could eat a meal in peace without being interrupted to do things like grab another course for Abbie, refill her Cheerios again, or extinguish the napkin that caught fire when she threw it on the stove top. Being able to sleep in would be an even better example except I had to wake up even earlier than usual while on the road.
I’m glad to be back home where the pillow on my bed is familiar and the milk on my cereal is skim. Did I miss Abbie? Absolutely. Upon returning home, she was the third person whose weekend I asked my wife about (the pecking order went my wife, my mother, who was nice enough to help out in my absence, then Abbie). Now I can return to my normal routine of caring for Abbie and contributing sales of ingredients for homemade baby food to the national economy.
posted by Matt at
11:06 PM
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