When you least expect it you get this text message or phone call from your spouse:
“Honey, I have to go to China/Singapore/Melbourne/Sydney” not for a day, not for two, but for one whole week, almost.
You are happy for them because they enjoy their job and they want to advance by attending conferences or meetings away from home. So you prepare, you talk about their upcoming trip, and whether the children understand what’s about to happen you still tell them about it just in case.
“Daddy is going on a plane, he will bring you a surprise.”
Then the day before the trip arrives. Packing, discussing whether they should get their haircut here or over there. What should they wear at the event dinner or cocktail? Is this jacket good? Too formal? Should we shorten these pants? They look too baggy.
Do these shoes pop out too much? Is it OK to wear khaki when doing presentation, or formal pants? Oh, but so-and-so said my suitcase looks big, should we buy a smaller one? Oh you bought a new smaller one? But it’s just like 5cm smaller, what’s the point? Argh! Get your own bag yourself!
Yes, life as the spouse who gets left behind. It’s not fun trying to look happy for them when you hate having to juggle everything while they are away.
I swear to God I must have forgotten a dozen of things during the week that the Scientist was in China. On day 2 I even left the garage door open while I dropped Curly off to school, went to Jamaica Blue for a coffee and then Woolies for some groceries. Two hours later, when I rocked up, [cue the theme from The Simpsons] I saw my garage wide open! Tadaaa!
Thank God the woman opposite was still in her garage cleaning her 4WD! She would have witnessed anyone coming up to try and steal something. By something I mean those $9.99 chairs you take out to the park, a bottle of BBQ gas, some old baby toys, cleaning tools and sprays, weed killers, and a broken pedestal fan which I keep meaning to take to the tip.
Sleeping at night has gotten better since he went to Singapore a couple of weeks ago. I have this ritual before bed to ensure all is secure and that my phone is charged, in case I need to call someone in the middle of the night and the power had killed the house phone.
I keep the car keys within an arm’s reach for security as I can use the remote as an alarm. It’s also good to have the car keys nearby if I need to dash out for some reason. The house is armed while we sleep and my monkey sleeps in bed with me so that he doesn’t set off the alarm.
While your soulmate is away things get pretty quiet. No adult to talk to, so you blog, Facebook, Twitter or watch some odd TV series (and then wonder why you got hooked into a series you usually wouldn’t care about, like Switched at Birth).
But when they come home, it’s like, um, you know, that moment when you’re dying to pee and you finally get to the toilet. A big sigh of relief that life will get back to normal. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
