Rambling of Thoughs: Home at Last

I landed at Philadelphia International Airport at 11:45pm last night and was home by 12:30am. After a fitful night of sleep, I woke up to the sound of the shower. My wife was getting ready for work. And then I heard my daughter crying. I stumbled out of bed, waited in hall as I thought she had fallen back asleep, but in a few seconds she began to cry, calling for her mommy. I went into her and in those few seconds, a host of ideas, came upon me. I had been away for a week and I couldn't wait to hold my daughter in my arms. Under 2, I wondered how much she had grown and what words she had learned. I went into her room, bent over her crib to comfort her and then there time stopped. She looked up at me, I looked her her, with her hair all tangled and tears on her cheeks and I smiled as I was home. She looked at me and--screamed. I tried to pick her up and she swatted at me, yelling, "No!" Her crying increased in volume four-fold and reality had set in. Welcome home. I thought my son would wake up and start calling for me, but he kept quiet. I reached for my daughter again and she continued to swat at my arm, this time calling for her mom. My wife came in as I held my daughter and her screams rose ever higher in pitch.

After a few minutes of calming down with her mom, I held her and she refused to go back asleep and didn't want to be left in her room with me. I took her into my and my wife's bedroom and held her for a bit. As she began to wake up, I could tell that she had recognized me and I walked back into her room and sat down on her rocking chair. I pulled the curtains back and pointed at the green tree, the house next door and the sky. She liked that and started to warm up to me. Thankfully.

Being away for a week was rough. I had traveled to Denver for work. The day after I arrived some of the surrounding areas received over 3 feet of snow. The picture in this blog post shows the great Blue Bear looking into the Colorado Convention Center in Denver when it was snowing on Friday, April 17th. The city could have received 4"-10" of snow. After all was said and done, there was a few inches of slush on the sidewalks, which made for a messy, morning walk to work, but it wasn't too bad. Though if you would have told me that I would have been walking in snow boots in a suit to the convention center I would have laughed at you. Little did I know of Denver.

On the way home, I had a layover in Detroit and while boarding the plane I knew my patience had reach its limit. A young engaged couple sat next to me. As we waited for the plane to take off, the guy next to me was looking at something on his iPhone and his wife to be started reading from a magazine. She, in a very loud voice, asked him, "Do you know what these terms are?" Brodown. Do you know what that is?" She pronounced it as "Bro-done." I rolled my eyes up and bit my tongue. He nodded, tuning her out as he played with his iPhone, but she went on. "How about a Brickberry? Do you know what that is?" He nodded, again, ignoring her.

Inside, I kept sreaming, "Please, shut the fuck up. Shut t-h-e f-u-c-k up!" She didn't listen. I had been up at 2:30am Denver time, fitfully slept off and on until 4:40am and out to work by 6:15am. It was near 10pm at night and I just wanted to go home. I thank God that the plane's engines caused her to caught and, boy, oh boy, am I thankful that I'm not married to her. But I was tired and not at my best.

Earlier that day, before leaving for work, I happened to be checking my e-mail and when I signed out saw an article about the moon occulting the planet Venus. And then it hit me, I finally realized which planet I was seeing out my hotel window each morning. I'd wake up around 4am and see a young crescent moon hanging over the city of denver. I took a so-so picture with my camera, but it was better than nothing. By the time I was on the street, headed to work, the moon had occulted Venus in the morning light. Very cool.

But now I'm back home. Exhausted, I so need sleep, washed out (I lost track of how many loads I did today--which reminds me that I need to get the bathroom rugs from the dryer) and trying to get back into the swing of things. I wanted to write about my state of mind. A ramble of thoughts, fatigue, thoughts of home and a special surprise.

On the flight home, I worried about getting a taxi to take me home. I calculated the cost of the taxi, how long it would take, giving instructions to the driver and pondering how long I'd be able to stay awake before I just collapsed. When I was leaving the plane at PHL airport, my phone rang. It was my wife. She had come to surprise me to pick me up. She had co-ordinated the whole thing: Her mom was sleeping over to watch the kids while she drove to the airport to pick me up near midnight. That meant the world to me. It was romantic, helpful and most appreciated. I held my wife next to me and took a deep breath of her hair. I was home. Home.

Comments

[jenny]

Great post Ron! It's nice to hear that romance doesn't end after kids. I remember when we came back from Disparities from Atlanta last year and seeing your wife and kids at the airport, that was so sweet.

[Ron]

Thanks! Yeah, it can be difficult to focus on the romantic aspect of a relationship when kids are screaming, work deadlines loom and you're just plain tired, but it's not impossible. :)