Ugh...

Nate lacin' up at 0300

Chad doing some last minute packing..

((WARNING: slightly mushy post)) Despite my efforts to remain calm and collected, the closer I was to our driveway, the more the nose dripped and the tears rolled down my cheeks. On returning home from the airport at 03:52, my stomach felt full of rocks. Chad is off to Peru for 6 weeks with no clear idea of when I'll be hearing from him. I sat at the kitchen table in silence. I didn't know what to do with myself. Going back to bed was out of the question. So, I began doing housework and packing up the aerobed Nate had slept in. I was grateful for the noise it made - I couldn't possibly hear my silly sobs with the blast of air coming out of the bed. But the job didn't take long and it was quiet again. So, I called up Annabelle to listen to her stories about the past weekend and what the kids were up to and such until I was ready to talk again without my voice cracking. After talking with her, I had one last goodbye from Chad before he got on the plane. I have 6 weeks in front of me. It's not as if we usually spend every waking minute together or that we can't spend time apart...in fact, our separate adventures are quite important and end up strengthening the relationship - the thing is the length of time, the uncertainty of the circumstances, and not knowing when or if we'll be able to be in much contact. Overall, I think this is probably one of those really good life lessons of learning to get comfortable with uncertainty. And once again I realize just how precious he is to me..