A Year Without - Day 1

The daddy left via cab at 5:15 this morning. Until 12 hours before that, we had thought his flight out was in the evening. It's a good thing we are flexible in this house.

At lunchtime I told the kids that we would officially declare our house a "safe place to talk about feelings." Then I told them that I was feeling sad that Daddy was gone, and that I missed him. Sam said he was feeling, "glad. Because Daddy has a job." Our boy is very astute, and I think he was picking up on how NOT having a job was affecting his Daddy. Katie said, "I am feewing EXCITED!" When I asked her why, she said it was because her Daddy was earning money to take care of us. The B indicated that he was happy, because his cup was "Aah-whoa" (his favorite color).

There was not much time to be sad today, though. Our Thanksgiving guests will arrive from New Mexico some time while we are asleep. We spent the whole day cleaning and organizing. Nobody in this house can seem to pack for a trip without leaving the house looking like a tornado hit it. (Don't take that as a complaint. I do realize I am the biggest culprit. Luckily, yesterday, *I* wasn't packing.) I'd managed to get the guest room straightened enough last week, but today we still had to pick up toys from the basement, hallway, living room, and dining room, get the dining room table cleaned off, catch up on the dishes so we could find the countertops, vac all the carpets... You get the idea. It was a very busy day. We didn't finish, but I was ready to collapse onto a soft bed. And of course the kids won't get themselves ready for bed. So I called it good enough. The guests have a clear path to their sleeping places, and there's nothing growing in the bathrooms. Anything else is just icing anyway.

We had blueberry pie for supper tonight. I bought a box of 8 pie crusts at Costco a few weeks back, because Sammy had been asking about making a pie for a while, and they miraculously didn't have any eggs, peanuts, dairy, or soy in them. Yes, I *should* make my own crust, but I figure I can attempt that after I get the fillings figured out. Anyway, I wanted to make a pie with this crust before I attempt to do one for Thanksgiving dinner. And after I made the pie, I was too tired (read lazy) to make anything else for dinner. I only used 1 cup of sugar instead of the 2 the recipe called for. It was plenty sweet enough, but it was super-runny. Next time I need to make sure to put some kind of thickener in it.

NOW there is time to be sad. I miss my honey. When I'm tired or sad (and tonight I'm both) there's no better place to rest my head than the hollow of his shoulder. It will be months before I can do that again. I look forward to it.