The Single Life

For the past week Hubby left me. Not for good, we're still married. But he found a short-term job in Haifa and no one was more thrilled than me - a) that he had work and b) that it was in Haifa. So for the past week, even though I had to bus it to Jerusalem and carry packages by myself, and there was no one to wake me up at 6:00 am (my kids set the alarm clock for me from my cellphone), I found the house chaotically peaceful, except for one night, when my son who missed his chess-partnering dad, was particularly awful to me and I just went into my room and fell asleep. But I did the laundry when "I" wanted to and cleaned up the dishes when I wanted to and didn't do stuff I didn't want to do. I often wonder when women who have travelling husbands, complain bitterly about this, and I think to myself - Are they totally fucked? At least they're getting their bills paid and have food to eat and even more! So what the guy doesn't come home for 2 months. Enjoy the bliss. I know I did.

One thing about being a "single mother" for a week was that I found myself home earlier than if Hubby would have been there. I didn't go to Tel Aviv to see the world's biggest fireworks display and I didn't go out for Lag B'omer (the bonfire holiday) festivities. We just hung around the house.

Hubby called me nightly at around 9:00 pm. He and Abed were hanging around the beach restaurants, taking in the scenery. "Are you hassling chicks?" I asked him. "Are we hustling chicks?" he responded. "Sure". I imagined how funny the two of them must have looked trying to pick up chicks - like two Wild and Crazy Guys. At home, he's usually asleep at 9:00 pm after work. It looks like the single life is doing him some good too.

I went to my daughter's wedding dress fitting during the week and I liked the dress but she didn't. She thought it was too plain, and I felt guilty that I didn't fight for her right then and there. She wanted it wider and the women told her she'll look like a cone. I thought about it afterwards and called her to tell her to tell them she wasn't happy and they should re-do it (so what if she looks like a cone) or she should just find another dress in another place. Luckily nothing was paid for yet.
The my 18 year old Complainer said she plans to move in with her boyfriend in 1 1/2 months which cheered up the rest of her sisters. "Yippee! Now we could move into a smaller place. Yay!" shouted my second oldest daughter. She was throwing virtual confetti all over the living room.

With a wedding happening in a month, I realize we haven't sent out any invites. What a pain in the ass to figure out everyone's snail mail address. And going to buy stamps and mailing them out!!! How primitive. How 'bout e-mail wedding invites, folks? But the couple wanted to do it the old fashioned way.

I'll have time to do up those snail mail invites this week because Hubby, who returned on Wednesday night, will be leaving again on Sunday for 4 days in Haifa, and my Boss is in the States. It can't get much better than this.