by Kelli Bowen
Absence makes the heart grow fonder, or in my case: absence gives the moon an opportunity to get fuller and emotions to be heightened.
The full moon makes the real magic happen: everyone in my family loses their minds.
I have been traveling for work and personal development for the past week or so. Except for a brief pause to come home and celebrate Miss E’s birthday, I have been gone.
I miss my family with the strength of a thousand tigers but find it necessary to travel to successfully execute my tasks.
But let me just say: I do get hit from the crazy from all sides.
For example, Miss A now wakes up in the middle of the night so often that the term “premeditated” comes to mind. Before going to sleep, she asks which parent she should plan to disturb, while acknowledging she also realizes we need our rest…but see ya’ later. She missed me so much because I was gone, so can’t she just hop in our bed??? Bring on the anticipatory guilt-riddled sleeplessness.
Miss E is on a mission to convince me she needs a pet snake. In the realm of things that will never ever happen, that’s right up there with me becoming a bikini supermodel. She even put together an amazingly wonderful presentation, so now I’m the mean ogre-mom who won’t let her fulfill her dream of being a snake-mommy. And had the audacity to travel during her birthday week.
I received many messages asking things like, “Are you ever home?”, “Where are you NOW?”, etc. from well-meaning friends and acquaintances. I’m sure they were just being snoopy and stirring up conversation, and didn’t mean to serve the questions with a side of passive-aggressive guilt mongering, but here we are.
As I travel through life trying to be a good wife, mom, employee, friend, and community member, it means I sometimes have to leave home for a few days. Once in my 40-some years on this planet, two of these events happened to land back-to-back, and funnily enough a big slice of guilt was served right along with it.
The saying goes “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” but in my most recent experience, absence makes the heart feel guiltier, so the next time you have the urge to question someone on their life choices, maybe try a simple “enjoy yourself” or “safe travels” instead.
Now where to next…
Kelli makes her home in Billings County with her husband, two daughters and a dog. She works for North Dakota's #1 tourist destination by day and tries to be an alright mom, wife, friend, and writer by night.
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