They say you get used to it, but I still cry every time Tim leaves.
This time, he managed to get a full week's worth of work in Colorado overlayed with 4 days in Boston, which got crammed onto 2 days in Utah. Everyone's shifting schedules added up to a long a difficult trip for him. And for us left at home.
Unfortunately, this is the week the Governor's Energy Office decided we needed a new furnace. And they only work mornings (8:30 am--which is about 1:30 am in Wonderland). Normally, when people need to work with us in the middle of the night, Tim gets up and lets me sleep through it. But he's gone, so I get to. Tomorrow, when they measure for the furnace (again! I tried to tell them they already did that, but the guy thought I was nuts and had no idea what I was talking about--so now I feel sorry for the homeowners who get the furnace that was measured for our house), it won't be so bad. I'll get up and get dressed, watch them measure for about half an hour, then get back into my jammies and go back to bed. It's the next day or day after, when they come to work all day installing the new furnace, that I dread. I should be awake for that . Not happy about it, partially because I then have to be a functioning single parent afterward.
Come to think of it, I should request they install next week, when Tim is home. I just can't see that working.
Meanwhile, Tim is hanging out in Boston, one of my all-time favorite spots to visit. He's hosting the Harmony Sweepstakes with Plumbers of Rome there this weekend. He's doing a show at a college. He's going to attend the ICCA finals, which he's always wanted to do just for the experience. Then he flies to Utah to perform two school shows (I think as a solo act). Comes home Wednesday morning next week.
Normally, Tim works really really hard to limit his tours to four days at a time for the sake of our family. The rule, originally, before we had six kids, was if he was going to be gone for more than 4 days, the whole family came with him. It worked when we had 2 kids and his tours were all in the region. Little trickier when he has to hit Colorado, Boston, and Utah in 7 days time. He's in a little bit of an awkward space. If he were on tour MORE, we could just go live in a motor home and travel with him. If he were on tour LESS, we'd see him plenty and it wouldn't matter. As it is, we deal the best we can.
Lots of talk lately about where his career needs to go next, and we're excited about the possibilities.
Just hoping this week goes smoothly.
Single mom of 4 occasionally wasn't too hard. Single mom of 5 was do-able. Single mom of 6 so far hasn't been very easy. We might finally be reaching the point where it is actually harder to be home alone with the kids than it is to be with Tim on the road with them. We'll see. It's a rock and hard place, for sure.
1 comment:
My dad was frequently gone when I was growing up, since he was an Army officer. We never knew when he'd be leaving on a Tour of Duty (or TDY in army-speak). Sometimes he'd be on TDY for weeks at a time. It was always hard for my mom, and I can imagine it's hard on you, too. Good luck with this coming week. Let me know if you'd like some adult conversation, and I'll give you a call! :-)
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