Darling Wife's parents and older brother arrived last night from the east coast, and today they all piled into our car and headed north to visit DW's sister, about five hours away. They will be gone until Tuesday evening.
My new job precluded me from joining them. This was unfortunate because I really would have liked to see my sister-in-law's new digs and spend some time in her new hometown. It is a small city on the north coast in the heart of redwood country, and I truly love it there. But I could hardly ask for two days off after only starting my job last week. They all offered to postpone the trip until I could go, but I didn't want to cause everyone else to alter their plans on my account, and it was not even really possible to do so. Besides, my sister-in-law may very well return with them to spend Thanksgiving here, and DW and I can easily go up to her place some other time. I had reconciled myself to the loss of the experience.
However, there is another aspect to this event that I had not fully considered. It may sound silly to you, but DW and I have not spent three days apart since we were married. Last Christmas, she went to visit this same sister overnight. That was the first time we had slept apart in over a year. But it was just one night, a small part of one day and half of another. I was also busy with school work at the time, so the seperation passed by quickly. This time, it is different. I will spend two nights alone, and I am not preoccupied with exams or teaching. As I have commented several times in this blog, we live largely isolated lives here. We rely almost entirely on each other for companionship. How curious it feels to be here without her. What is more, before we married, I lived with a roommate for three years. I was seldom if ever home alone, and almost never over night. I haven't spent this much time completely and totally alone in over five years. I have never been an incredibly needy person. I am quite comfortable spending large amounts of time by myself. I even require it on occasion. But I was not prepared for the fact that the next few days seem like an oddly unpleasant experience now that I am faced with them.
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Perhaps make a list of things you'd like to do, movies you'd like to see, etc. and occupy yourself with them? That's what I do. Or maybe take care of Christmas shopping for her while she's out of town?
In any event, I'm sure it won't be easy... the toughest part is the first few days, but once you get past the halfway point, there's comfort in knowing you'll see her again shortly.
And if all else fails: blog. :)
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