Better Together

Gracious, it has been a long two weeks! My posts have been few and far between for a reason, so I'll fill you in on what has been going on.

On April 30, Jonathan wrapped up his first year of optometry school. On May 2nd, he left for another medical humanitarian trip, this time to Belarus. I was by myself for a week, so I thought it best to not broadcast to the cyber-world that I was home alone. Though my guard dog and alarm system are pretty handy, I didn't want to invite anyone to test out those security measures.

Over the course of the time that Jonathan was away, I learned something new about myself. You know how there are some wives out there who just turn into big babies when their husbands leave? The clingy, weepy, scardy-cat type? I have never been that girl. Of course, I miss him when he is away, and I definitely prefer for him to be around, but I'm not going to make his life miserable through my co-dependence. I suck it up and enjoy a bit of alone time, eating what he hates to eat, watching what he hates to watch, and shopping where he hates to shop (for the record, Jonathan hates to shop. Period.). No, I have never been that insecure type of girl, but apparently Jonathan's absence has a different effect on me.

It makes me stupid.

In the course of one week without Jonathan, I did all of the following:

• I locked my keys into the car and had to pay a locksmith $120 to retrieve them.
• I lost our dog. (Don't worry, I found her shortly after that).
• I lost my cell phone (NOTE: never, ever, ever put anything on top of your car to free up your hands. It is a universal law that you will drive away without grabbing it, thus sacrificing your possessions to the whim of anyone who happens to stroll past them at the park. Apparently someone likes razor phones and tennis ball launchers, because both are gone)
• I left my hot rollers on for 8 hours. Miraculously, our home still stands
• I left a hard boiled egg from my sack lunch in my work bag, only to be discovered by Jonathan a week later.

This is not a comprehensive list, people. For an entire week I walked around in a haze, scatterbrained, absentminded, discombobulated. Whatever you want to call it, it only serves to confirm the fact that I need him. Not only do I love him, like him, enjoy him, etc. I need him.

Which made it all the more painful to spend TWO weeks apart. Wouldn't you know that the leadership conference I agreed to facilitate months ago was scheduled to begin the DAY BEFORE Jonathan got home? I left on Sunday, he arrived home on Monday. Terrible, terrible timing. And I was also instructed that no visitors were allowed, nor was anyone allowed to leave the site. Boo. Hiss. Yuck.

But I am a big girl, and I followed the rules. I tried my best not to complain. And luckily, the conference was amazing: my cluster of students was solid, my fellow facilitators were fun and challenging to me professionally, and the facility was beautiful. It was almost worth two weeks away from my hubby. Not quite though.

We finally reunited on Friday. Hubby, me, Weber. Our little family together again. We hiked, we ate, we sat on the back porch and read for hours, we ate snow cones (even Weber had her own...the girl loves ice!), we talked. And we were reminded that we really are better together.

Stay tuned for Jonathan's account of his trip to Belarus!