The Musings of a Family Man Alone

The Stewart family farm has , yet again, granted me a week of freedom as my and kids visit the farm my in-laws own in Indiana.

I have spent the last 7 days alone, sans kids and wife. For some in the same position as myself, this might seem as some sort of miracle, a fortuitous aligning of planets so to speak. But this tiny expedition into the alternate future I turned my back on has proven strange to say the least.

Since my progeny has vacated my personal space, I have had the rare opportunity to explore some old and forgotten pastimes, such as deep introspective thought and home improvement. 

The first thing I did was clean the house. I feel that mental processes are much more comfortable in a clean and organized environment. The sad, and unsurprising, part is that this process took about 4 days. While this ate a big chunk out of the time I was going to use for getting house improvement done, I feel it lent itself to the overall efficiency of getting stuff done.

During this time, I came to realize of several ironic bemusings:

-Being lonely sucks!..if you have knowledge of what the alternative is. I have mentioned in the past that I believe I would be completely happy by myself in some far away cave with an internet connection. This could possibly be a recipe for contentment for those who have no knowledge of a life with a loving and awesome wife plus adoring, fun children.The irony is when the kids are around, all you can think about is time alone....when you are alone, all you can think about it is playing with your kids.

-I have been cleaning my house for 4 days. There are people who feel they function better in clutter-free environments. I am one of those people. There must come a point in these people's lives, after they have children, when they realize the awful truth that there is NOTHING that they can do about the constant pile of toys and dirty laundry and children books. One is simply forced to eventually realize they are impotent against the powers of youngster chaos. You can try to fight it, but the war will never end, and exhausting the enemy is a futile endeavor.

Despite the power of loneliness and deafness (see below), I have prevailed in accomplishing some feats otherwise impossible with children present to entertain:

-I finally got the toilet installed and shower plumbing done in the on-going project known as the bathroom.

-Finished some desperately overdue paint touching-up in the living room

-Cleaned the fridge, basement, and porch.

-Installed a magnetic door stopper in Lyla's room (the door would never stay open, very annoying)

-Picked up my sister Gillian after a weekend wedding, my parents came up and we all went out to dinner to a kickass Chinese/Japanese restaurant to celebrate my other sister Claire's being sober for 3 years and my Graduate school graduation last year.

-Got a  haircut

-Watched Rambo, The Mist (most depressing end to a movie ever!), Doctor Who, and the entire Riddick Saga.

-Made a lasagna for our neighbors who just had a kid

-Mowed the lawn, weeded some flower beds, and edged the front walkway

-Dominated 6 people in a single round Team Fortress 2! That's a personal record.

 -All this while managing an ear infection, otitis externa, of the tissue around the ear canal. It wasn't an issue until my ear canal swelled enough to completely impinge my hearing. This screwed with my balance, talking, and overall comfort. I will never devalue deafness ever again.

Writing this list, I shock myself at how much I can accomplish when the kids are not around. But that doesn't mean I want to make a habit of it.

Comments

[Robbo]

The kids gone... you alone... and your work your brains out!?
You are family man to the "T"... :)

I probably would have packed up the motorcycle and camping supplies... though, I'm all talk.

[shrubby]

I know its weird, isn't it? With one kid, its not so much an issue. But 2+ kids, you really can't get stuff done unless you are borderline OCD. It slowly builds.....eventually to the point where you are begging for some free time to be selfish.

[Dae]

I wish I could leave for a week and have all those things done by my hubby xD On a side note though, I can definitely (cough see that? it stuck!) sympathize with the loneliness. Even without kids, sometimes evenings alone can really be sad. Hence online gaming as the cheapest, easiest alternative. Miss ya Storm!