Family,
And a good Wednesday evening to you from the Queen City, where the Bull is actually "batching" it for the evening while JT and K spend the night at her parents place. I'm using the night to plow through about 800 overdue items on my "to-do" list, one of which is getting the next installment of the blog in place. Let's get amongst it, shall we? |
| "Um, Nole Nana? I don't like the look of those clouds." |
Now don't get me wrong: I LOVE travel - especially Business travel. To complain about flying Business class, running in the parks of London, taking in all the culinary delights of Singapore, and jet-
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| 5:30 AM - let's rock this place! |
setting all over the globe would be the very definition of a first world problem, and I am by no means whining about any aspect of the experience. It's just that this is my first 2 week stint on the road as a dad, and it's not until you are so far removed day after day from where your heart lies that you realize how much you miss home and how inextricably linked you are to the place where your roots and family are now planted.
I think I really felt it over the second weekend, as times previous had seen me give up a Sunday, only to return on a Friday afternoon. This trip, however, saw me give up 3 straight weekends with my family, and losing those precious hours where I really get to saturate in family time was tough. Add in the fact that I've not had many work from home days recently, and you had a guy desperate to get back to his family. And it didn't help that, on the night I was set to leave, K had her first every "daddy don't go" meltdown. Oh, my heart hurts just remembering her face...
Here's how it all went down: K's gotten quite used to Jenny and I walking out the door at this point, so much so that it's pretty much a non-event when I leave. Also, as the suitcases had been out for the better part of a week, I took it for granted that K knew I was going somewhere. Well, when it came time for me to head out, I bent down and told her I was heading out and asked for a hug. When I did this, her face got instantly sad, and you could tell she was on the verge of tears. As I then got up to leave, she grabbed my pinkie and held it for all it was worth. When we hugged as a family, I think moved to leave her bedroom, but she would NOT let go of my pinkie. At that point, she just broke down. Imagine how heart-wrenching it is to hear your daughter say: "Dada NOT leave! Dada not go to airport! Dada NOT go on work trip!" She was in meltdown mode, and I was scrambling to think about how I could fix it. Therein lies my second blunder.
As fate would have it, I was walking back into our bedroom to get the camera charger, when I noticed that the now defunct other charger was beside it. Thinking I could make this easier, I walked in with the old charger and said, "Kaitlyn, this is daddy's charger. It's very important to him, but I can't take it with me. Will you please watch over it and keep it safe while dada is on his trip?" She got quieter, and
I thought that worked. Well, fast forward 2 hours to the point where I'm at the airport and call Jenny before my flight. Jenny tells me that, while all was fine during bath time, she EXPLODED at bedtime, screaming, "Here's your charger, dada!!!!" She was desperate to give it back to me, poor thing. Luckily the next day all was back to normal, so much so in fact that she wouldn't even speak to me on FaceTime because she was watching Peppa! But honestly, that did my heart good, as the thought of her missing me was much worse than being ignored. :-)
Getting back to the trip, I think the point where it really hit me was sitting along at Boomerang, an Aussie cafe in Robertson Quay that Jenny and I used to frequent for breakfast all the time. Sitting here at a table for one, I just kept staring at the empty chair across from me. All I could think about was the conversation Jenny and I would be having if she was sitting there (as well as all the conversations we'd had at that very table), and I missed her terribly. Here was this GREAT reunion tour, and I was experiencing it alone. Then factor in all the wee ones running around, and the realization was complete - there is no place like home, and home is Charlotte, North Carolina. Home is Highland Creek. Home is a great little house on a cul de sac. Home is a beautiful red head who loves me no matter what. Love is a Munchkin who begs for daddy to sit with her at dinner and play pinchy crab as soon as we're done. Home is a group of friends, a running circuit, a growing microbrewery scene, a greenway, a whitewater center, a commute I really enjoy, a church that has changed my life, and a million other things that only exist together in one spot. I can't believe I'm typing this, but in that moment travel when from something I'm passionate about to something I really only want to do with my family in tow. And of course I'll travel some more for work in the coming months and years. However, the lens on it will be forever changed. London is amazing, but if I'm asked to choose between a curry in London or eating K's leftover mac 'n cheese before a salad, I am now in the camp that I choose the latter. Love my girls!
I landed back home on August 22nd, and I've honestly been in recovery since then. I'm feeling pretty good, but I can tell I'm still tired and catching up on sleep. Basically we're in bed by 10, and I'm up between 5:15-6:45 every day (which is a lot of sleep for me because I'm crashing INSTANTLY and very hard). Today is also the 5th AFD in a row, so clearly my body is trying to get back to some semblance of normalcy.As fate would have it, I think K was in the same boat as me - ready to be home. She and Jenny spent
the week in Atlanta (visiting KJ, Matt, and baby James!), and after 5 nights on the air mattress (as well as 8 of the last 15 total on the road), you could tell that K was THRILLED to be home. Over the past week she's been resistant to leave the house - be it NOMAD or any other location she's normally excited about. JT's managed to get her out, but you can tell she's just happy to be sleeping in her crib again, playing with her toys, and enjoying the familiar surroundings of home. She actually melted down completely at Church on Sunday, as she just didn't want to get back in the car. She was screaming "Dada, let me out right now! TT now wanna go to church!" She was still screaming when we walking into the childcare room. However, I'm happy to report that, as soon as she received goldfish and saw the TV, all was right with the world. :-)
And I would be quite remiss if I didn't include the class K and Matt photo shoot from Atlanta:
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| The classic picture of happiness |
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| The "I loved Poison's first album" photo |
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| The "I ain't sayin' she's a gold digger" photo |
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| The "life is short - live it" photo |
On the Munchkin's development and cuteness front, she continues to defy imagination. On the day I left, she did the alphabet song and said EVERY LETTER exceptionally clearly! That was a big milestone, and we were really proud of her. She's also singing Jesus loves me very clearly, and she's also memorized the "God is great" prayer. She particularly enjoys saying "Amen," and last night she even wanted to do the prayer again. I simply MUST get it on video, as it's about the cutest thing EVER.
Another cute quote was the day after I spanked her when she said, "What did dada do to my bum?" What usually follows is an explanation of why I spanked her, to which she'll respond, "Dada, I was naughty!" Not sure the concept is really taking hold yet, but we're getting there... :-)A few other points to note:
1. Puzzles - she's DEFINITELY improving her ability to do puzzles. Whether it's a mixture of memory, spatial reasoning, or pattern recognition, it's definitely trending in the right direction. I certainly hope she's better at them than I was at that age (or am now for that matter!).
2. "Aminal" - JT and I are curious how long she's going to say this until it gets auto-corrected to animal. For now, I'm enjoying it, as it's about the cutest thing ever.
3. The other day she put on her sunglasses and said, "I look faaaaaaaaaaantastic." JT absolutely
The last bit to note was on 6 August, when I came home to find Jenny and Kaitlyn doing Ring Around the Rosy over and over. K LOVED it, and I particularly loved watching how she slowly and methodically "fell down" to ensure she didn't bump her little head on the hardwoods. Right now we're really into "Tickle Time," which I'm quite enjoying (as I love that little laugh). We've also had a lot of laughs at dinner time recently when we say "Hi" to all of the inanimate objects in the eat-in kitchen. For example, I would say, "Hi window behind K's chair that's stained with milk and fingerprints." K would then proceed to laugh hysterically for about 60 seconds. Don't ask me, man - I just work here. :-)
Okay, so there you have it - all the news that's fit to print. I'm excited to have my girls back in the house tomorrow - a fun weekend ahead!
Love,
Sam and Jenny
