Monday, July 16, 2007

Summer vacation, of sorts

I am on vacation. But not really.

In the past four plus years, Trillian and I have spent some time away from home separately, as much as a week at a time. The longer times have either been work-related (for Trillian) or involved a trip to help an ailing family member (for both of us). But traditionally, the other parent stays home with Scooter and maintains a normal schedule as much as possible.

Scooter and Trillian are visiting her parents for not quite two weeks. My school schedule meant I couldn't get away right now, so Trillian is traveling solo with the kid for the first time. I still have to teach and meet with students, go to a doctor's appointment, grocery shop, clean up around the apartment, and make sure I have things moved out of the way for the maintenance men.

And yet it is still a vacation of sorts for me. No waking up to Scooter's demands. Or organizing my day around drop off and pick up times. Toys will not end up all over the place on a daily basis. And I will get the blankets all to myself. (If you couldn't tell, the first three are Scooter-related; the last one is all Trillian.)

Don't get me wrong, though. I already miss them terribly. There are, of course, daily phone calls that have been planned, including some via our webcam. And I know that Scooter will have so much fun with his grandparents and Trillian will have a chance to start looking at houses in the town where we want to live (and don't think that doesn't make me hyperventilate!). Who knows, I may even get some work done on my comps.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr. Good Taste travels alot so I know all about these kind of "vacations".

Big hugs

Aliki2006 said...

Good luck! I've yet to experience that type of liberty, but I'm sure it must be a mixed bag of sorts--some peace and quiet and a bit of loneliness mixed up all together!

metro mama said...

Enjoy it. The Harry Potter will keep you warm soon.

They'll be back before you know it.

crazymumma said...

It is bittersweet...

Anonymous said...

See you doomed yourself with the "No waking up to Scooter's demands." bit. He set that alarm for you on purpose. ;-) BTW, in case anyone was wondering, traveling with a 4 yr old with limited language abilities is approximately the 6th level of hell.

Mouse said...

Trillian is referring to a travel alarm that Scooter plays with and that went off at 4 am this morning. Since I was still wound up from all the driving, I didn't go to bed until midnight. And I got up for good this morning a little after 7. So far, no extra rest.

cinnamon gurl said...

Wow, looking at houses in the town you want to live in without you... may I ask if you would buy before you had jobs there? How exactly does one manage a big relocation like that?

Mouse said...

Sin-
Trillian telecommutes to her job in the US, so in fact they would be pleased if we moved back to the US--simplifies taxes for them. I'll still be doing the student thing, and I think I have a good shot at an academic job there. If that doesn't come through, I'll do whatever we need to make ends meet, though we are also limiting our house-hunting to even less than the max we could technically afford on Trillian's salary alone.

What makes this relatively easier (though moving is never easy) is having Trillian's parents there. We will end up staying with them for a while throughout the process. Plus, they were able to set us up with professionals like the realtor and the mortgage broker.