Dave’s Blurb for December

My wife left me this month.

Just for a week. Actually six
days. She went to a conference in Atlanta. In our 23 years together, this was
the longest stretch Sandy and I have been away from each other.

Double parked at Will Rogers, I
watch her wheel her ginormous suitcase into the terminal and she’s gone. I’m
thinking no big deal. Six days. I got this.

Later in the day, she calls
before she’s off to attend an evening function with her colleagues. She’s
attending the Weston A. Price Foundation Annual Conference—all about health,
nutrition and wellness. Our conversation is cut short because the oven buzzer
is going off. My frozen pizza is done. Six more days until Sandy gets home. I
will eat better tomorrow.

The next day I get home from
work and ask “How was your day?” No one answers but that doesn’t stop me. I
continue to engage. The cats grow bored and leave. But the dog is riveted. Five
more days.

It’s Wednesday and my
granddaughter, Aubrey, is here for the night. She and Sandy always watch Dance
Moms. It’s their thing. Tonight it will be our thing. I watch and ponder my
acceptance speech for “Papa of the Year.” Four more days until Sandy gets home.

In the morning, Aubrey hops on
the school bus and I head to the laundry room. I can run a design firm and
publish a monthly magazine, but somehow I can only figure out how to operate
the dryer 21 minutes at a time. So 21 minutes times three and my jeans are dry.
Three more days.

Friday evening and I find myself
watching the TV show Scandal. I don’t
understand the character relationships and I am missing nuances of the plot.
Sandy would explain these things to me. I miss her. Two more days.

Saturday is unseasonably warm. I
can’t say I miss my wife as I ride her motorcycle up Route 66. I make sure I
put it back exactly as she parked it. She’ll never know. One more day and Sandy
will be home.

Today’s the day. I check her itinerary.
Apparently, when she booked her return flight, she hit the make my husband pick me up at the height of OKC traffic button. So
here I am stuck in stop-and-go traffic just north of the airport, but I don’t
care. Now I’m down to minutes. I got this.