I’d like to give a shout out to all the single parents out there. At this point, I’ve been acting as one for about 2 weeks now and I have to say that I don’t prefer it to the alternative.
Don’t worry, there’s nothing wrong at the Kilted Homestead, but the Kilted Wife (we don’t talk about her much around here, do we?) had a great career opportunity to participate on an Away Team for work training at a new facility. So the end result is that I’m playing single dad for a big part of September.
The good news is that it’s not like a scene from Mr. Mom around here. The vacuum cleaner isn’t running amok. The house isn’t a huge mess. And I don’t even own a chainsaw – we don’t even have any trees in our yard (besides, I prefer an axe anyway). The kid hasn’t been late for school. And I know what kind of salami to buy! In other words, things haven’t fallen apart in her absence.
So what’s the difference?
I have found the biggest difference is not having someone around to regulate my schedule. The biggest issue: what’s to stop me from watching TV for 5 hours after getting the Kid off to bed? With the wife at home, it’s “turn off the light and go to sleep.” Let me tell you, that’s a much bigger guilt trip than Netflix asking “Are you still watching,” after 2 hours without touching the remote.
Translation: “I miss you! Can’t wait until you get home!”