Coming Home

Since C. travels for almost all her work there is a lot of coming and going in our house.  Lots of airport hugs, sleeping single, hotel shampoo, long skype calls, small heart breaks.  Today she is coming home and this day is always the same for me: change the sheets, vacuum the house, pile up her mail, make a lovely dinner, infuse the house with love, welcome.  The re-aquainting is lovely, tentative, almost like courting, and I make the most of it.  But today is different, today it will not be me at the airport picking her up, but a car service.  For the first time in our relationship, I will not be available.  I have started school (more on that later) and will be in class.  She will arrive home to an empty house, something I am deeply sorry for.  We knew this day would come, knew that I could not sit at home waiting for long, that life calls, and I am not one to be idle.  So I will make the bed, dust, smooth the towels, run the dishwasher, and then I will leave.  At least Jack will be here to welcome her