So here I sit, 1746 miles from home, on Father's Day. Kind of odd, as this is the first Father's Day since becoming a father (10 years) that I have not been with my family.
The day was okay, of course - I'm easy enough to entertain: lunch at Costco ($1.61 Polish Sausage and Drink), trip to Borders for a new paperback (with a 40% coupon), a stroll through Target Greatland to discover that no, I can wait a week to bring Toliet Paper back with me but that their yogurt prices are just as good as Costco, and then back to the apartment to read the afternoon away - which for me absent family, is a fine way to do it.
Still, a little bittersweet - as this whole separation has been. It gives me a very brief insight into what it must be like for those who by service (military) or by circumstance (divorce or separation) are away from their families for long periods of time, especially on special days. They have a whole life going on, a whole web of experiences, which you are absent from - or only experience via second-hand phone calls and e-mails. When you get back together - and I have that to look forward to - it will still only be stories instead of the experiences.
In one month I have gone from being with my children 16 - 24 hours a day to not being with the at all. It is a strange circumstance, one which the most selfish might wish for initially (more time to do what I want) but will come to realize only reminds them of the true value of relationships and the hollowness of time spent without them.
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