"Daddy's on airpain. Daddy's on tip"

This has been Caden's common phrase for the last 5 days.
Translation: Daddy's on an airplane. Daddy's on a trip.
Jay comes home tonight. He has been gone since Sunday morning. WAYFM held a conference in Colorado Springs so he's been there, enjoying the snow and mountains. I'm glad he's coming home today.
It's during times like these that I begin praying for single mothers. Widows, divorcees, military wives....anyone who has to go it alone raising kids and holding down the home front.
To be completely honest, I don't feel as though my work load has increased with Jay being gone. I still drive Caden to school, go to work, pick him up, come home, make dinner, bathe him, get him in bed, clean up, do laundry, pack lunches...etc. With Jay always having had really long work hours, I've become accustom to getting things done on my own, not because he wouldn't help but because he's always had such a demanding work schedule....that's why his new job has been such an answer to prayer.
The truth is, I'm able to keep the house much cleaner and organized while he's away...less laundry, less dishes, no dirty tissues or moldy coffee cups laying around (I married a stereotypical man :) and with Caden going to bed at 8, I'm bored and lonely enough between his bed time and mine to submerge myself in cleaning as to not feel the effects of being all alone in the deep south. Usually after Caden goes to bed, Jay and I eat dinner and hang out talking, watching TV and catching up on our day...and I tend to let everything else slide in order to just be with him...making for a messy house, but a happy couple.
I would much prefer to live in a pig sty, enjoying time with my husband, then in an immaculate home without him.
I'm just not me without him. Nothing is as good without him being there. Jokes aren't as funny, sweets aren't as tasty. I love Caden and he brings me so much joy and frustration (mostly joy :) but going through the motions of tending to a child, keeping a house, working a job and finishing up just in time to go to sleep and wake up to do it all over again, can become incredibly monotonous without having a best friend to share it all with.
I tend to sleep much sounder when I sleep alone. There have been several nights this week where I've fallen asleep and woken up 6 hours later in the same position I lay down in...which rarely happens when Jay is home. He is a midnight snacker, and bathroom user and nose blower...He's precious, but sometimes it's like I'm sleeping next to a monkey! I may sleep deeply while he's gone, but it takes me a much longer time to get to sleep because I am wishing he was next to me...Deep sleep without Jay is not as refreshing as broken sleep with him. He makes me feel calm and rested by just being there...even when he's sneezing like crazy at 4 in the morning ;)
He flies in tonight at 7:30 and I couldn't be happier. Now life will take on some normalcy. We've yet to really see what Jay's new Mon-Fri, 8-5 work schedule will mean for our family...ever since he started 2 weeks ago he's been travelling for concerts and conferences...but next week begins a fresh look at what life will be like from here on out. We're so blessed to be able to have every evening and weekends together! I'll never take it for granted.
If you're a pray-er, keep us in your prayers this weekend. Someone is coming to see the house on Saturday. Believe me when I say that selling this house is so incredibly important within my family right now, and we honestly trust God's timing in the situation, but a little prayer can't hurt :) A young woman with a baby boy saw it online and scheduled a time right away to come see it. Pray that God prepares her heart to fall in love with it..that it will all work out, all of the finances and paperwork will come together and that we'll be able to be in a situation where we're less strapped for cash and time by being in the city where we do all of our living.
Thanks!