In case you were worried about me, I survived the Husband being away from home for two weeks.
Well, two work weeks, that is. He (of course) joined me for the weekend in between his trips to Seattle and Arizona. He lives a hard life, this husband of mine!
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Back in the day when I was super young and fun and independent (okay, I’m still all of those things, but back when I was the younger version of myself) I traveled 100% for work. Every week, Monday-Thursday I would fly or drive to a different city and ‘live’ there for three days. And let me tell you, traveling like that is exhausting! But more importantly, I came to the realization that my relationships don’t thrive on distance. As soon as I met the Husband (well, six months after that fateful day) I quit my consulting job and settled into a job that would keep me in Chicago and near my main squeeze.
Now we enjoy a non-distance relationship/marriage in which we see each other every night. And I kind of really like it that way!
But in the rare instances that the Husband has to travel for work, I don’t so much mind a little distance either.
It reminds me of the years I lived by myself in Chicago, with no one to check in with, no one to share a TV or bed with, no one to distract me from getting out of bed in the morning or in bed at night… ah, the single life.
Now that I’m pregnant, my weeks alone consisted of more chocolate and less wine, but otherwise, it was pretty much the same! Well, except I now have a dog that depends on me so I had to be a little less lazy and slightly more responsible.
I’m still mad about walking this little Monster in the zero degree temperatures, but I’m sure I’ll get over that eventually. When the Husband buys me diamonds.
Now that the Husband has been back for a few days, I’m reminded of why I don’t just love marriage (because I have that whether he’s here or on the west coast or wherever he may be) but why I love having him as a roommate.
// He kills spiders. I cannot kill spiders. I just can’t. Luckily, I didn’t see any while he was gone, but I was constantly trying to figure out what I’d (hypothetically) do if I did see one.
// He cooks dinner. When he was gone I considered s’more pop-tarts an acceptable dinner. Cheese and crackers was practically gourmet because it involved more than one ‘ingredient’. Needless to say, I’m feeling a little better now that the Husband is the one doing the cooking again.
// He walks Ozzie. I am not a great dog owner. At all. Especially in the winter! I’m a wimp, and I know it. But when the Husband is out of town, I have no choice but to walk Ozzie, no matter what the temperature is outside. IT WAS BRUTAL. I’m just glad that the Husband is back and has taken over dog responsibilities.
// He talks to me. I love talking about my day with someone when I come home from work. I’m not really one of those people that needs to decompress, I come in to my apartment like a whirlwind wanting to talk all about my day and the night and everything that could possibly be on my mind, no matter how insignificant. I love having the Husband home to listen to me and to talk to me about his day!
// He cuddles with me. Ozzie did not cuddle with me at all while the Husband was gone. Instead, he took up his post at the foot of the bed and woke up in the middle of the night, howling. It was terrifying. Pretty much, he was the opposite of a comforting cuddle buddy.
// He prays with me. We generally end our days/nights together with a prayer over our lives and our (growing) baby. He leads us in prayer and I really, really enjoy those few minutes we share together. When he’s gone, I obviously still pray, but it’s not the same as praying together as a little family.
// He protects me (in theory). Thankfully, we’ve never been in a situation where the Husband has actually had to protect me, but I like knowing that, should our house get broken into, he would be responsible for protecting us. When he left he told me there was a knife in the nightstand, should I need to protect myself in his absence. Ummmm say what?! A freakin’ knife?! I seriously had nightmares involving me needing to stab someone and not being able to do it. Nightmares. I can’t even kill a spider, I’m sure as heck not going to know what to do with a knife!
Don’t get me wrong, there are other things that the Husband is good for, too, but these things are what I immediately think of when I think of why my soul is comforted to have him physically near me every.single.night.*
*Even if we do spend most of our time buried in our separate forms of technology. (Currently I’m blogging and he’s on his cell phone. Ah, 21st century romance!)
Cheers!
