Danka's World

50 Cheap Dates

07 Jul 2010 4 Comments

by danka in Uncategorized Tags: marriage

My husband is away and I miss him terribly.

I guess I’ve gotten used to having him around. It wasn’t always so. When our kids were toddler-age we were both going to school and working – him full time and me part time. I pretty much handled the kids myself as he went off to the call centre every evening. I got used to going to bed alone every night. When that phase of our life changed it was an adjustment to be sure, but it was a good adjustment.

Last spring, with his university days behind him (I’m not done yet) and settled in at his new dream job, we found ourselves separated on a regular basis yet again because he suddenly had to travel for work. A lot. At one point, he was gone for three weeks out of the month. I got used to holding my own here, even though it was a bit of a juggle organizing childcare for the nights I had to go to work.

But eventually, that was over too. We have settled into a blissful routine with both of us at home a lot more. Not only are we both here for the kids, but we’re both here together on a fairly regular basis. It’s been a nice pace of life.

But now he’s gone again. He’s gone surfing for a week with his buds. He will be home for a day and then off again for another week for work. I’m only on day three of his absence and I miss him. Yes, it’s partially because I’m not used to being alone with the kids 24/7 (usually they’re in school during the day and I work a few evenings a week). I had to take them to work with me (at the church) on Monday for two hours. They, of course, chose those two hours to continually pick at each other and get into screaming matches and Adora pulled a disappearing act by going outside to climb a tree and not answering when we were calling and looking for her (arg!). It was embarrassing and frustrating and of course they were getting along like peaches and cream as soon as we left the church building. Sigh. So I miss being able to hand them off, but more than that, I miss his company.

I watched three episodes of 30 Rock by myself on Monday night.

(Last night I invited myself to dinner at the Jenkins’ house, put the kids to bed there under Mike’s care and went to the movie theatre with Shannon, so yay for impromptu girls nights out!)

And now I’m sitting here missing him again. Two and a half more days of this, and then another week. Come home to me baby!

In the meantime I’ve been devising a plan. Mwah ha ha ha ha ha. I came across a cutsie little article – a list of 50 Cheap Dates. Matthew and I are notoriously bad for not making time together – alone (other than watching 30 Rock or Dexter or Lost or whatever TV series has our attention at the moment) and I keep saying “we need to go on dates more often.” I say it to my friends, I say it to myself, I occasionally even say it to Matthew. But I don’t really act on that desire. But this little article inspired me to grab the bull by the horns. I’ve saved the list. I’m going to drag him out and do the list.

Right now he’s surfing, happily ignorant of the plans I’m making.