SPWH

Been doing the SPWH thing for the last few days.

Single Parent with Husband. That's the phrase a friend coined a few years ago when we were commiserating over our traveling husbands who seemed to be gone every time a toilet clogged, a tire went flat and a kid was barfing over my shoulder. We knew we were blessed to have great husbands who worked so hard to support us and missed us when they were gone...  but sometimes that's hard to remember when you're knee deep in puke!

The Hub has been up in the great state of New York (Utica, specifically) for work and was expected to be home tomorrow. While currently he doesn't travel quite as much as he has at other times in our marriage, I really miss him when he's gone! His travel schedule was one of the first things we considered when I quit my last job - and I can laugh now about how hard I thought it was to manage ONE kid on my own! As I always say, it's all about perspective, and my perspective with four school-age kids is a bit different these days. 

When Blaine left home on Wednesday we were pretty confident Hurricane Irene had veered away from Florida and we would be just fine. Neither of us really believed she was heading towards New York! Fortunately, he's in the middle of the state, riding out the storm in an oh-so-glamorous Best Western and hoping to get a flight out on Sunday morning. If he doesn't make it out on Sunday this will mark the longest we've been apart since the earliest days of our marriage. (Ever hear the one about the married fraternity boy who lived in a fraternity house? I'll tell ya about it someday.)

Now, I don't know about other spouses of travelers, but when Blaine is gone there is a certain of amount of, shall we say, laxness that tends to come over me. Not relaxation, because I miss him, the kids miss him, and the effort to be The Responsible One all the time is hard. But I do tend to let some things go - the laundry piles up, dinner might come from a blue-and-yellow box (or a delivery guy), and I might let one of the kids sleep in my bed. Aww, who am I kidding, that happens when he's here too! Maybe I just don't feel as guilty about it? I don't know. In any event, when he's gone just a few days at a time it's manageable. 

Five days (or more) stinks. 

Hugs & God Bless,

Bev

P.S. I'm praying for all the people who are in Irene's path. May you all stay safe, dry, and together while she does her business.