Ah, business trips, I remember them well… socializing with co-workers until the wee hours over cocktails and assorted small plates. Eating on the company's dime in client-worthy establishments and not even splitting dessert. Collapsing into a pillowtop mattress with freshly laundered sheets every night.
The last time I was on a business trip was when Mazzy was a year old. I went to Argentina for a couple of weeks and yes, I missed her, but MY GOD, was it nice to catch up on sleep.
This week Mike is away for work in Florida and I have a sneaking suspicion that he is enjoying himself way more than he is letting on.
Every time Mike calls home, things in the background sound way more like people in a bar than people in a very important meeting. Also, he took his golf clubs. And the last time I checked, it's a sunny 72 degrees.
This morning Mazzy woke up and said, "Is Daddy home yet?"
"No, sweetie, not yet."
"Is he coming home soon?"
"In three days."
Her eyes went wide and her face fell all at the same time. "THREE DAYS???? But that's a LONG TIME."
"I know sweetie, but he misses you so much and wishes he were here instead of there every day."
"Okay."
You see? I can pretend too.
Ha! My husband travels for work too. I do have sympathy for him as it is hard to sleep in a strange bed, hard to maintain healthy eating, and some flights are excruciating long. And to be honest, when he is gone I can feed the kids cereal for dinner, watch MY shows and my house stays remarkably cleaner. However, the first week of January my husband was on a business trip to Florida. Florida! I was with the kids in -40C weather. Again Florida vs. -40C. He owed me for sure when he came home! 😉
My husband always comes home looking far too fresh faced and well fed for my liking. Like you, I used to travel for work so I know how cushy it can be. A king-size bed to yourself with no possible cries of “Mummy, Daddy, I need a wee wee!” at 4am – that is not that difficult. And then he walks in after a week of sleep and fine dining with gifts so gets to be Mr Super-Popular…. No fair! In his defence he does miss the kids and tends to take them out when he gets home to give me time without anyone asking me twenty questions a minute. And he travels to Scotland, not Florida. I can’t be so mad about that! Not exactly so sunny…
My husband doesn’t travel often, but in Feb. he is going to VEGAS for a work conference. Sunny Vegas vs. Freezing St. Louis. So jealous. However, I am on the boat that sometimes it is a little easier parenting alone without having to agree when Daddy says no dessert tonight. I pick dessert over a fight any day! Plus, I have a lot of shows to catch up on.
BTW, I loved your post on dating your husband again. It totally got me thinking how we are together every night but not really doing anything together. It is not too easy to go out every weekend, but this past Saturday we stayed in for a date and ate a grown up dinner after the kids went to bed.
I travel for work and while I definitely do miss being at home with the kids, I can totally vouch for the fact that curling up in bed with a large glass of wine and a book and knowing I don’t have to do anything for anyone else is rather divine.
I consider my work trips vacations too. Even though mine require me to take classes for 8 hours a day and I have to share my room with a co-worker, I don’t have to cook, clean or parent for a solid week. I have me time after my work day instead of people dependent upon my care.
And now, my kids are old enough to have noticed it too! When a class was cancelled, one said, “Aw mom, I know how much you have at conference.” LOL They must notice how rested and refreshed I am when I return.
So true. My husband’s “work” trips do sound like heaven to me. A bed to myself without someone snoring next to me? I can only dream. I agree with Kande, though, my house stays a lot cleaner when he is gone.
That should say “I know how much fun you have at conference” LOL
My husband is away for work in FL too this week. Maybe they work together? 🙂
He uses this time to go to bed as early as possible to catch up on sleep since our boys stay up later than he does! But he gets “dragged” to a bunch of free, fancy meals. It’s a hard life.
My husband travels as well and makes it seem like it’s a chore. A chore is getting 3 kids to school in the morning and then to bed at night. I would LOVE a business trip/vacation right now!
My husband went to Vegas on “business” on the weekend of our 5th anniversary. The fifth anniversary that we originally planned to celebrate in St. Lucia where we honeymooned, except now we went ahead and messed that up by having a baby that was then 5 months old and I’m sorry but I’m not leaving my a 5 month old and a 4 year old to terrorize my parents while we wined and dined with tropical fruit and fun drinks with umbrella’s. Not even I would do that. But I didn’t think the alternative would be for my husband to head to Vegas and me stay in DC with the kids…for 3 days….
I hear ya!! My husband travels A LOT. I did too, pre-kid… so I don’t have a sympathic ear when he complains how tired he is from a transatlantic flight – he had 8+ hours to nap! I love his complaint of the time change and how he still wakes up too early (if traveling to the west coast). Yes he might wake up early, but he is not forced out of bed at that time, fulfilling demands left and right. Nope, he gets to stay in bed and do whatever he wants until he deems it’s time to get ready for the day! I am jealous, though, of the room service for breakfast, oh how I miss that!
My boyfriend does construction in our local neighborhood so he never goes anywhere. It’s ME that gets to travel occasionally. Unfortunately, it’s to world’s most boring town ever but it’s baby free so I can’t complain.
this post cracked me up. my husband is currently deployed in Afghanistan and I have to constantly resist the urge to think of it as ‘his vacation.’
YUP!! My husband travels a lot and I do miss him but it is easier in some ways – HOUSE IS MUCH CLEANER, LESS LAUNDRY and less cooking…I guess it is like, one less person I have to worry about, ya know?
I have a business trip next week, and YES, I’m definitely looking forward to it for all the reasons you outlined in “what my husband actually does”. I kinda feel bad for leaving my husband with both kids (and for being excited for a few days without my kids), but I’ll get over it. 🙂
My husband had a business trip in France, Cannes to be exact. Since he was not going to take our two children with him, that meant he was leaving me home with them for a week while he went to France, Cannes to be exact.
Despite me being home solo with our family, he was kind enough to regularly post to Facebook the shots of he and his colleagues popping champagne corks at 4am. I was up at 4 am, too, but for very different reasons.
If there’s rooms service and housekeeping, it doesn’t count as a business trip. It’s a holiday.
xo
I am bothered that I don’t miss my husband when he is away. I enjoy being home more now. I would rather be alone than be alone with a body sitting there staring at a screen all day and 1/2 communicating when necessary 🙁 It really worries me that I feel this way.
When my husband travels for business, he stays in our second home. I say that’s STILL a vacation, even without maid service or room service! It’s the best of both worlds:
his own bed and pillow and beer stash, but no kids, or family related obligations. *sigh*
On a related note, I’m booking myself a hotel room for one night as my birthday present this year! (And I’m gonna stay there all by MYSELF!! Eeee!!)