Hijacked

For the next few minutes, if you choose to continue reading, you're stuck hearing the thoughts of Curt, a.k.a. "Marybeth's husband." She's been off for a few days leading a woman's retreat in Texas. I could lie and tell you that I wanted to give an update of the "goings on" of the Whalen home (not as eloquently as she would of course.) But really this is just therapeutic for me. By Sunday afternoon after three days of Marybeth being gone I start to really miss her.

So continue reading at your own risk.

The kids and I had a pretty good weekend. I took a vacation day Friday, so I got to sleep in a little. But just a little. I had to get all the kids up and make sure everyone was ready for school. Then it was time for mommy to say "goodbye" to get to the airport. That of course brought tears and gnashing of teeth. But the kids consoled me, and the rest of the morning was relaxing. I answered some email, had a couple of work calls, and generally lounged around. I think the funniest part of the day was using my 16 year old's clipper set to give myself a haircut. I had planned on loading up our three youngest kids and heading over to the barber shop, but then got it in my head that I could cut it myself. $15 bucks is $15 bucks right?

All I'll say is, it's a good thing that hair grows back. (There might be a mom of boys out there who just realized with a fright that no, unlike hair, us guys never grow out of trying crazy things like that. Sorry. It's just the way we're wired.)

The highlight of the day was meeting my dad for lunch. His 66th birthday was last week and I had called and told him I wanted to buy him lunch and celebrate. He was easy on me and suggested a kid friendly and inexpensive place. Chick-fi-A! That's what makes me love him so much. He's a selfless kind of guy and always thinking of other people. I hope to be like him when I grow up.

Happy birthday Dad...

The rest of the weekend was uneventful. Marybeth had meals all ready for me to prepare and I didn't mess a single one of them up! (Ok, one of them.) The older kids spent Friday night out with friends and we had a nice family night on Saturday watching "The Express," a movie about Ernie Davis. We finished the weekend today with some pancakes and bacon before church, and then treated ourselves to lunch at Qdoba.

And so here I sit telling you about our weekend without "mom," and in my own weird way connecting to my wife. I'm glad (and humbled) that Marybeth has the opportunity to go minister to other women. She comes home every weekend with stories of wives and moms dealing with heartbreaking issues. She has the chance to speak God's word to them, to tell them stories of all the struggles our marriage has had, and to encourage them. But by Sunday afternoon I'm really missing her. Our home isn't the same when she's gone.

Ok. I'm feeling a little better. Just hours away from her arrival! Thanks for listening. Back to your regularly scheduled programming...