Lonely

Helaine and Steffie have gone away for a few days. The house will be very quiet.

When we last spoke, they were somewhere in South Jersey. Traffic hadn’t been bad in Connecticut, but that changed from the Cross Bronx Expressway into Central New Jersey.

It’s possible that a suit could be filed to have them change the name of that road. Isn’t calling it an “expressway” false advertising?

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. Even late at night, while I’m the only one awake, there is something very reassuring knowing that they’re both there.

For this quick trip, I had to do some tech support. Helaine wanted to bring a laptop, but we weren’t sure what kind of access would be available. Last night I made sure the computer would work with either wired or wireless connections.

Networking on the road is a definite weakness of Windows machines. Sometimes you can just unplug it in at home, then plug it in at your destination and it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. I can’t predict which will happen in any given situation.

I had become pretty proficient at working these problems, Then Microsoft made changes to them with Windows XP Service Pack 2! No good deed goes unpunished.

I’m thinking it’s 60/40 that Helaine won’t need help. We’ll see. If she does need assistance, I hope I can talk her through it.

They also took my camera. The last time Steffie took it, the auto focus somehow got switched off. Steffie figured it out and focused by hand – still, why bother when it’s not necessary. I put together a set of instructions with every contingency I could think of.

From a selfish standpoint, when they’re not around I have a tendency to put off going to sleep. As late as my bedtime is now – it gets later! I’ll also wait until the last minute to straighten up the house and run the washing machine.

Cellphones make things a little easier. There’s no real reason to be out of touch. But I’ll miss knowing they’re with me… having my middle of the night conversations with Helaine… having her wake me up (as she did this morning) when I forgot to take some medicine.

I am married because I want to be with them. This trip will make me appreciate that a little more.