Was it a Willie Nelson song? Business trips are the time I read and write at personal level, since I am alone and had time for introspection.
A colleague talked about her family. Her husband is in Utah operating a small business. Her older son is in New Jersey working. Her younger daughter is in Indiana in college. She bought a condo in San Francisco bay area and will soon move. “Do you see each other at all?” I was curious. “Not much,” she replied. “We skyped each other a lot and email and that.” She appeared content and looked forward to her retirement in California, by herself.
I started this trip several days ago at 6am. At 7am, the airline counter clerk told me the flight was canceled. She moved me to one two hours later. So I found a restaurant, ordered breakfast, and started working. At 10am, the gate clerk said there was an “FAA delay” and the departure time was moved to noon time. I sighed and went back to my computer. This is just like a day in the office, with much less comfort. At the end of a long day, around 10pm, I checked into the hotel in a city that I have never been before. After room service dinner, I banged on the keyboard for a couple of hours more and collapsed into the bed. I woke up to a full-day meeting in the same hotel. Then I jumped back to the airport and landed in another city that I have never been to before. This pattern continued until I got home, four days later. It was not the bed, the recliner, the TV, the home cooked food, or the familiar city and streets that I missed. It is the presence of my family. Am I getting old? (Don’t answer that.)
Several empty nested friends have interesting commute pattern. The couple would alternate living separately or together: they would have 4 to 6 weeks of separation followed by about the same amount of time together. My colleague whose family are each in different state seems to be the extreme on this spectrum.
When my family are together, we simply talk a lot randomly. Wife cooks, everyone sit down, talk about things that are not really deep or provoking, and went on to do our TV or Internet. Guess what we just do is soaking up each others’ warmth.
Much better than watching TV by myself.
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