Empty Nest

I know what images this brings up, but in my case it's a bit different. My nest is not empty of children, but of my SO. No, it's not a permanent condition so withhold the notes of condolence. It is merely a vacation.

My SO’s job is such that our schedules often prevent us from taking time off at the same time. Summer months are great for me as a teacher, but they are the busy time at the local public library. Summer Reading programs take precedent over vacations. So often my dearest will take a vacation in the spring. Unfortunately not during my Spring Break because again, that is a peak time of activity for Youth Services Librarians.

So this week my Precious is on vacation. Now normally that would conjure images of an out of sorts Librarian wandering about the house trying to figure out what to do next. This is a dangerous thing as any woman can tell you, if you are not here to supervise the wandering about. It can result in terrible things like home improvement projects, starting new hobbies and reorganizing common work spaces in the home.

The last thing you want to hear upon arriving home after a hard day of trying to explain the concepts of personification, anthropomorphization and the difference between similes and metaphors is the sound of someone saying, “Honey, do you remember your book? The one on the coffee table?” Remember it?

Even worse. “Honey, I straightened up a bit for you.” This generally means there will be ten things I can’t find in the first hour after arriving home. Should this happen they will hear the screams in Australia.

Now my love does not have a history of these things, but I’m not really into risk taking. But the truth is the bigger risk for me is the “I’ve had no one to talk to all day” thing. When you come home and want ten minutes of quiet and the other person, who has had no one to talk to all day, suddenly starts to talk. And talk. And talk.

So, a preemptive strike was in order and a local airline cooperated marvelously by having a rate sale. So this morning I crawled out of bed at 6am to put my SO on a plane to visit my in-laws. For 5 days. Plenty of time to sit on the beach, begin to appreciate my cooking again, get fed up with the younger brothers and spend time with old friends.

I thought this was a wonderful idea. I love alone time. I like to putter about. I like to be able to write or read with out the self imposed guilty feeling of neglecting my Precious. In fact I’m under orders to finish working on my current WIP (the incubus story) and get back to finishing up my Wolf story. Someone is not a fan of the incubus.

But tonight, as I sit here, it seems very quiet. Too quiet and I find I’m actually missing my dear already. It’s just me, four dogs, two birds, three fish and a snail. Just one human missing. And I have to tell you, the house never felt lonelier.

So my darling Kell, if you are checking out this blog, have a great time dearest. I love you and miss you already.