5 Reasons I miss my Wife and Kids!

For those of you who need a preface to this post, Christina was brave enough to take Ezra and Annika on a flight to visit her parents in Lovell. She went to help them prepare to move and to have somewhere fun to stay while I went to brighten young minds in Connecticut. What follows is 5 of the thousands of reasons I find myself missing them terribly. 

1. It's hard to sleep. I miss Christina keeping me up until 1:30 am, Annika waking up around 2:30, Ezra waking up around 4:00 asking to sleep in "mom's bed" and proceeding to block me out by sleeping horizontally across my pillow, which then causes me to sleep at the bottom of the bed like a pet dog until Annika wakes up again for a bottle and I fall asleep sitting up on the couch, only to wake to the wonderful sound of Ezra saying, "I need a milk Daddy" at around 6:45. It sounds strange, but I think I get a better night's sleep when the above occurs than I do now. Now it's just quiet. And lonely. It's nice to know that people need you and want to be around you, even when it's 3:00 in the morning and you are dead tired. It's still a great feeling!

2. There's no laughter in this house. And no crying either. If you are reading this, you've probably remarked to yourself on several occasions, "Christina is the funniest person I've ever met." Which you've no doubt followed with, "And those kids, they are a riot!" I know I think this about 25 times per day. I miss Tina's dry wit and I especially miss the way she makes herself laugh. Hysterically. That's the mark of someone truly funny--nobody can make them laugh harder than themselves. I feel like my day is missing some kind of hilarious running commentary, then I realize that I'm going through it without Christina. And I really miss watching Ezra laugh, which then makes Annika laugh as well. I even miss the crying! Now all I hear is air conditioner and various rumblings in Spanish/Chinese/Polish from our three neighbors. 

3. Kisses. I really miss those. From Christina's good morning kiss to Ezra's "if I kiss you will you take me to the playground?" kiss to Annika's attempt to suck your nose clean off of your face, those kisses can't be beat. 

4. Bragging about my pseudo-accomplishments in political science. I still give myself the pep talk about 10 times per day ("You're the best! You can do it! Sure, somebody will read this sometime! No, it's not a waste of 6 years of your life! Hey, what you're doing is as important as helping people! In fact, you are helping people--helping them see a slightly different side of a 19th century American recluse using verbose jargon that only a specialist can understand! Ha, take that, brain surgeon!) but there's nobody around to support me while her eyes slowly glaze over as I go into minute detail about my "project." Seriously, though, it's not just talking about school, but about everything. I really miss talking face to face. There's really so much that goes into conversation that we can't get without physically being near each other. Telephones are nice, but they're a little empty if you're used to talking to your lovely wife whenever you please. 

5. Being a (big) part of their life, and vice versa. Being away from Christina and the kids makes me realize how absolutely great it is to be a big part of their lives and to have them as the biggest part of my life. It really stinks not to see Ezra playing with his cousin or Annika laughing at Grandma's dog or Christina taking photos or reading a book or cooking dinner. That's probably the hardest. 

They've been gone three days, so it comforts me to know that there are only about 30 days left until I see them. Ugh. Missing them has left me looking like this (let me warn you: I took this picture after 3 days of missing my family. I have been unable to shower or shave and have picked up a bad habit or two in the hopes of staving off the ennui):