Not for those of you in long-distance relationships

H left this morning for a conference over in Dr. Brazen Hussy's neck-of-the-woods, so I am here with just D until Saturday. It's not a long trip, but it's weird because we almost never spend time apart. The summer he went to Very Distant Country for three weeks seemed like years. We all cried at the airport when he left- it was terrible. We talked on the phone at least every couple of days and I even took D to Adopted Home State for a week to help pass the time. That year my mom sent out a "newsletter" in her Christmas cards saying that H had been gone for three months. We laughed our heads off at the thought of being apart for three months, when three weeks felt like an eternity. 

When we were first married, we were apart for a few months when H moved across the country for his first tenure-track job. I was six months pregnant with D, we had just gotten married (after going on our first date just 6 months before that!) We drove for four days in a rented cargo van to take a few pieces of furniture for H to his new home. Then I flew back to PhD City alone. Things were a bit rough at first, but I got into a routine for finishing my dissertation proposal- H even flew into town for my defense! He was shocked at how much bigger I had gotten in those two months. He flew home after my defense (4 weeks before my due date), but D made an early arrival- six days later! H didn't even get to meet D until she was a week old. He came for a ten-day visit (in the middle of his semester). After that we were apart only about six more weeks. Because of the time difference between PhD City and H's first job, I would sometimes call him when I was up in the middle of the night with D. I would put her into a baby sling and walk laps around the house to get her back to sleep. H had early classes, so I would sometimes catch him in the mornings. I sent him lots of care packages and mail order items: video-tapes of Seinfeld and the X-Files, Trader Joe's cereal, an umbrella, a winter coat. He was living in a REALLY small rural town without a car, so he didn't have it easy. He also injured his hand that semester, requiring surgery and had to have a colleague drive him an hour away for the surgery. 

H came home at Christmas break, then we all moved together and I became a long-distance PhD student. Once we all moved together, we stayed together. Our only separations have been brief trips (other than H's longer trip to Very Distant Country). H is my best friend and it just feels weird to be away from him. When D and I got home tonight (from piano lesson, dinner, grocery store, & visiting Awesome Female Colleague), she was very disturbed that H's car is here, but he isn't (he rode with a colleague) and said "I miss Daddy". I assured her that he'll be home on Saturday. We'll be fine until then, but I will be happy to see him when he gets home!