I have been domestic-goddessing and good-wife-doing all day long, getting things ready for Glen to go to Tennessee.
He is so excited. I know he is although he really does try to hide the fact that he's trembling with joy at the thought of getting in that truck, car, whatever it is he's driving, and heading up the road to Tennessee where he was born and bred, to hang out with his oldest friends. I'm sure he thinks that I'd be upset if I realized just how much he loves to do something that does not involve me in the least but hey! I get it. I love the fact that he has good friends. And a lot of them. He is a good friend. He calls his guys regularly, they chat and laugh and catch up and they even talk about real things like illnesses and grandchildren although I think a lot of the talk has to do with cars and hunting and boats and all that man-stuff.
Not to be cliche, but let us be honest.
And he helps his friends in so many ways, he visits them if they're in the hospital, he makes sure to be there for them when they go through life's heaviest moments.
So yeah, I know he loves his buddies and I would be some kind of a psycho-jealous narcissist if I didn't understand that.
Okay. So sometimes I do display a little mild jealous psycho narcissism but mostly it comes in the form of the dreams I have wherein I can't find him and I need him but I think that's more about anxiety and fear for his safety than anything.
At least that's what I tell myself.
And today was a day when I wanted to be gracious and loving, sending him off. Of course I made the Life Sustaining Cookies for him. And I had told him I'd make him a loaf of sausage and cheese bread for Christmas, never got around to it, so I did that today too.
I got all his laundry done and folded and I also took our trash to the trash place and took all the paper and cardboard out to the burn pile. Little things that needed to be done. He offered to take the trash but he had a full day of activities he needed to do before he leaves so I told him to go on, go buy those oysters and bourbon and check the rat traps and all that other stuff.
And hey- NO RATS!
Hallelujah and Hosanna.
And hey- NO RATS!
Hallelujah and Hosanna.
And let's face it. It is no secret at all that I love time to myself and I cherish it so his taking off to hunt and hang out with friends is a gift to me too. I believe I will go to the store tomorrow and get some salmon and some more Le Sueur Peas. Ooh boy. I'm excited. There will be piano playing and jig-saw doing and stitching and reading being done.
Now Maurice?
Poor baby. As soon as Mr. Moon gets his duffel bag out to pack, that cat loses her mind. I have decided that she has an extreme case of feline anxiety and that's all there is to it. I can just read it in her eyes. She's been bringing in tiny mice regularly, leaving them in plain sight so we stupid and mostly blind humans will be sure to see them and thus be able to make use of them. They are really small and they look just like the mice in a Beatrix Potter book, which is to say, precious and adorable, except that these mice are...dead. But taking those little corpses out is nothing compared to having to deal with the remains of some of the things Maurice brings in, especially when Glen's gone and she figures that I need sustenance and obviously have no knowledge of how to provide it for myself.
Poor baby. As soon as Mr. Moon gets his duffel bag out to pack, that cat loses her mind. I have decided that she has an extreme case of feline anxiety and that's all there is to it. I can just read it in her eyes. She's been bringing in tiny mice regularly, leaving them in plain sight so we stupid and mostly blind humans will be sure to see them and thus be able to make use of them. They are really small and they look just like the mice in a Beatrix Potter book, which is to say, precious and adorable, except that these mice are...dead. But taking those little corpses out is nothing compared to having to deal with the remains of some of the things Maurice brings in, especially when Glen's gone and she figures that I need sustenance and obviously have no knowledge of how to provide it for myself.
Okay. We've discussed this before. I don't need to beat a dead...squirrel.
I really have nothing else to discuss this evening. I'm cooking greens from the garden tonight instead of making salad from them for a change and I'm going to make some rice and heat up chicken that Mr. Moon cooked on the grill a few nights ago. Easy supper.
And we will go to bed and he'll leave tomorrow and I'm going to be fine. Better than fine!
And at the same time, I will feel his absence acutely. After forty years of marriage I still don't quite understand how it works. I just know that sometimes it really does.
Love...Ms. Moon
Enjoy your alone time. Salmon, peas, piano and a puzzle. Perfect.
ReplyDeleteI think so too.
DeleteA beautiful loaf of bread and pot of soup. Have a nice staycation.
ReplyDeleteI will, Joanne. Thank you.
DeleteWhat? Your husband doesn't like Leseur peas? Doesn't he know that it is a complete mystery that they can be labeled and sold as peas? They look like an alien life form to me. :) ps: that sausage & cheese loaf looks like it will be a religious experience! Cheers!
ReplyDeleteI hope the sausage and cheese bread is good. Don't tell anyone but i may have over-crisped that sausage. Oh well.
DeleteYou know what? I just realized I forgot to buy my Le Sueur peas. I am losing my mind.
And hey, don't we really, really really need some down time after the craziness of the past few days?
ReplyDeleteWell I know I do.
DeleteSometimes, it is just very nice to sit in a quiet house doing quiet things. Sleeping in, if you want, not waking up to someone with a checklist of what we need to get done for the day. Not feeling guilty about reading all day long if you want, and if you're hungry, just fixing yourself a bowl of oatmeal. There's a bit of luxuriousness about that.
ReplyDeleteIt is a very laid-back and relaxing experience. I feel quite certain I am not the only wife of a hunter who rather enjoys it when the man goes off to hunt in distant lands. So to speak.
DeleteYour days alone sound a lot like mine, only I get more of them! Enjoy. I think it's good for a relationship when the partners have different friends and interests. I suspect it accounts in part for long marriages.
ReplyDeleteWell Lord knows that Glen and I have different interests! And you may be right- could be one of the main reasons we're rather long-married.
DeleteSafe journey for him and relaxation and piano for you!
ReplyDeleteThat is the plan.
DeleteYou feel it so acutely because he is part of you, so when he is away, a part of you is missing though you are still a whole person. How exactly does one make a loaf of sausage and cheese bread? I know the cheese bit, grated cheese mixed into the dough, but the sausage?
ReplyDeleteIn this type of sausage and cheese bread, the dough is rolled into a rectangular shape and the sausage and cheese go on top and then it's all rolled up together like you would for cinnamon rolls.
DeleteIf I weren’t already married I’d ask you to marry me! OK, maybe not, but you are definitely a gem.
ReplyDeleteOh! That's the sweetest thing anyone's said to me in a long time.
DeleteI think we would get along pretty well. We could sing songs from "Hair" together and so forth. I would love to sit in a courtyard bar and criticize the outfits people are wearing with you, too. Many relationships are based on less.
In Scotland a "glen" is a kind of valley but as far as I know there is no Glen Moon in that part of the British Isles. A "Glen Moon" whisky is produced in Scotland and there's also a "Glenmoon" distillery in Lebanon where the whisky is described as "Mild and smooth" - just like your Glen! Enjoy your quiet "me time" while your husband is away.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh! That is so funny. And it's even spelled the way Glen spells his name. I sent him the link so he can see it too. Thanks, Mr. P!
DeleteEnjoy the peas and possibly the peace. You both know what counts.
ReplyDeleteWe recently discussed the fact that in our 45 years of living together, the longest we've been apart was two periods of 14 days each. Not on purpose, just coincidence. Maybe that's why he never spells out "I love you" in rose petals for me.
I do not know where Glen gets his romantic streak but he sure has it. He leaves me sweet notes every time he leaves the house before I get up. I swear- over the years I have collected hundreds of them.
DeleteA few days alone sounds wonderful. My husband has gone to work today, no Jack, just me and the dogs. Peace.
ReplyDeleteI've convinced my husband to see a doctor and a counselor. I told him I would leave him if he didn't. Stupid bugger. Anyway, he's going. For such a smart man, he's awfully stupid.
And life goes on, doesn't it? Enjoy your peas, I'm with your husband there:)
You pulled the Big Card on him, lady. Good for you! You have the right to be married to a man whose health is being tended to, both physically and emotionally. Those things affect you very much.
DeleteI wish Marc would leave now and then so I could have some alone time but he's more of a recluse than I am. He goes out to the bank, the liquor store, to get gas for the car, to pay the water bill or property taxes, the library. That's it, short forays out. And yeah, peas...yuck.
ReplyDeleteEllen, you need to find a little airbnb to rent for a week where you can go for some solitude. If he won't leave, you can! I think it would do you a lot of good.
DeleteHunting and fishing are serious hobbies and for some people they provide great joy. The next step would be to make it a lifestyle. My Uncle and Aunt made it a lifestyle for a few years. Think, desolate woodlands on the Maine-Canada border. Living in a cabin heated with a wood stove. Hunting, fishing and growing their own produce to provide meals. Being snowed in during the Winter. Bathing in a stream during the Summer.
ReplyDeleteIt takes all kinds. Thank goodness, we are not all the same.
Oh no. No, no, no. I will not be living in a little cabin where you can get snowed in with only a wood stove in order to hunt, fish, and grow my own food. And I am pretty sure that Glen wouldn't either! He'd probably love to stay in a situation like that for maybe a week but he loves his comforts.
DeleteI know you worry about Glen when he's gone, but I also know you relish a little alone-time. I hope that it's enjoyable this time around. You two do take good care of each other.
ReplyDeleteOlga gets very anxious when the suitcases appear, too. She assumes she's going so usually she's happy, but it's an anxious happy. (And if we tell her to go lie down she knows she's NOT going and gets into a funk.)