Livin' La Vida Solo

Over the weekend, my friend Cris asked how I'm getting along with Shane gone.  The short answer is just fine.  It's been a little more than two weeks since he left and we've had no major -- or even minor -- catastrophes.

But I have noticed a few interesting things in his absence:

1.  There are fewer dishes to wash.  Normally I run the dishwasher once a day and have a sink load of pots and pans on top of that.  Right now I'm running the dishwasher about every 2 to 2-1/2 days and handwashing only a pan or two a day.

2.  There is less laundry.  We have a large capacity front-loading washing machine, and under normal conditions, I run about a load a day.  Sometimes more, sometimes none, but on most days, there's a single load to do.  In the past 15 days or so I'm finding that there's not enough laundry to do a full load for about four days, but on the fifth day, there's suddenly enough for three loads.  You'd think this would be a good thing, but I keep running out of dish towels before there are enough other whites to make a full load.

3.  The carpet doesn't vacuum itself.  Shane usually does the vacuuming.  He likes doing the vacuuming, and I like letting him do it.  Maybe I'll like it better when we get our new carpet.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I still won't like it.

4.  On a similar note, the van doesn't pump its own gas, either.  I can usually employ some high-tech strategery and get Shane in the driver's seat of the van just about the time it needs gas.  I'm finding that's not very easy to do with him eight hours away. 

5.  The TV has all but retired.  I let Kat watch a little bit of television most days, but other than that, the set's been off.  I don't like many television shows to begin with, and those I do enjoy, I enjoy watching with Shane. Essentially, I watch because he watches.  I'd rather read and listen to music when I'm alone.

6.  Shane and I don't really know how to carry on a phone conversation.  I think it's because we never dated.  We met on a Sunday and he moved in with me the following Thursday.  We skipped right over that whole small talk on the telephone stage of our relationship and I don't think either of us has a clue how to go back and try it after almost twelve years of face-to-face conversations.  So, while we've been talking on the phone daily since he left, I don't think either of us is really enjoying it.

7.  The asparagus is coming up and I'll probably get to have all of it this year.

So, other than those few observations, nothing too out of the ordinary has happened since Shane headed west.  I've been able to handle whatever needs handling, so far.  I've been able to open my own jars and everything.  I think it's a good thing, because we still have no real idea when Shane's coming home, or for how long.  Seems there is a lot more work to be done out there than he and his foreman were led to believe. 

Again, it's not all bad.  The paychecks sure have been fat nice since he's been gone, and even better, they're being sent directly to me.