Kids of a Traveling Man

I found this shower curtain at Target last week and since Dave is such as traveling man - thought it was very appropriate. I really liked the fact it showed all fifty states as well as the entire world. Now, when he's on a trip, the kids can look at the map and think about him and where he is.

Life is different without Dave around - it's like it just slows down a little bit because I'm more apt to play things by ear than go ahead and make all kinds of plans. He left Friday for the Isle of Man (Can you find it on the map? Our kids can!) and as of this morning, he's in Dublin. We certainly miss him, but it does seem like people rally to the occassion - making sure we're doing all right. For example, Sophie and Lucy take turns sleeping with me each night. This is not my choice, but theirs. It's as though they think I really do need to share my bed with someone each and every night. Wait until they grow up and get married and find that sometimes it really is very nice to sleep alone. Another example is dinner invitations - they come forth whenever Dave's out of town. (And I don't think it's because they don't enjoy his company!) As much as I enjoy eating with friends, I usually turn the invitations down. When I'm by myself with the kids, we all just take it easy and have relaxing evenings - dinner and bed by 8 pm. On a good night, baths are added to the mix and the kids are still in bed by 8.

When he's gone, I feel like I'm much more patient with the kids. My gut feeling on this is that it's because I know that if I lose my temper, he's not there to take over and give me a break. Actually, maybe it's not me at all - but rather all of us. They're working hard and keeping things running smoothly; together, we do a pretty darn good job.

There are also perks to the traveling - like his airline mileage points. We usually manage to get one family vacation in per year based on these. The kids just assume that most people their age have flown to the Bahamas once and to California and Arizona numerous times. For Sophie's birthday, she thought we should go to the Fairytopia in CA for the weekend - Lucy, too, was adamant that it was a good idea. After much discussion, I think I finally got across that it costs lots of money and that it is pretty special to be able to fly to vacation destinations.

So - on another day I'll finish this post with all the benefits of being a child or spouse of a traveling man...