Through Amber Colored Glasses

I’ve been living the single gal life this week while Jon is off on a service trip with his nursing program. I’ve learned some very valuable lessons in his absence, but mainly 1- I am not as independent as I thought and 2- I am an extremely lucky lady. Two words describe the experience: It sucks. 

Here’s a recap. 

Saturday morning after dropping Jon off at school, I drove home sobbing. If this is what he feels like every time I leave, I am never leaving again. What a terrible feeling. I was filled with worry. Would he be safe on the drive down? What about the accommodations? Would he be okay once he got there? Did he pack the right clothes? Did he remember his toothbrush? Is his coat warm enough? All silly things to worry about considering he’s an adult, but still, I worried, so much. 

Once I returned to the empty house, I stood in the kitchen, a lost soul, wondering what to do. So naturally, I went back to bed and slept the day away.

Sunday morning, I ate a bowl of cereal and used the last of the milk. Our process is this: I rinse the milk container and place it next to the sink. I am not sure what happens after that… magically, as if tiny milk-replacing elves live in the back of the fridge, there is new milk the next morning for me. I’ve never questioned the process, so naturally, this weekend, I rinsed the container and placed it next to the sink. It wasn’t until later that afternoon I realized, if I wanted cereal on Monday morning, I was going to have to go to the store… hell, if I wanted dinner that evening, I needed to go to the store.  

And the mail… did you know it comes everyday! Lots and lots of it.  I mean, tons of mail. I haven’t given too much thought to the mail until this week and now it’s threatening to overrun the kitchen. Oh, lets not forget that the dogs have to go outside several times a day and they expect to be fed at certain times EVERY DAY!! Then there’s the dishes. They certainly stack up after a few days. I even got to experience the dry cleaners, another task Jon simply takes care of for me. 

I know I make Jon sound like a housewife… he’s not. Nor am I as naive as I exaggerate above. Certainly I know there are not tiny elves in the fridge. I exaggerate to make this point: Jon takes care of me and makes sure that things get done, leaving me free to focus on work and other commitments. It’s incredibly kind of him and he rarely makes a stink about it. He does these things because that’s the kind of man he is- the kind of man who loves his family and would do anything for them. I am blessed and I am counting down the seconds until he returns. I know he will get a kick out of these stories, but more importantly, he will appreciate my new-found appreciation for him, which I intend to communicate to him every chance I get.