The Cost Of Being Away

The Man spent the week in the city while The Boy and I were at the cottage. He was involved in projects at work he didn't want to be away from. I am a little shocked coming home. How can a grown man make such a mess in such a short time?

The shampoo and toothpaste he put at the top of the stairs and decided not to take to the cottage remained at the top of the stairs for a week. His worn shirts were piled in a corner in the bedroom. The bedsheets, well he didn't change them and I was too tired last night so they are now three weeks old. The bathroom sinks were full of gunk. Why sinks in both bathrooms?

He wanted to be helpful so he did the laundry. Now little fluffs of paper and lint are strewn all over the basement floor and piles of clean laundry are rolled up and stuffed here and there. I took out the piles I could see, refolded them, and put them away in their proper places. At least he didn't leave piles of dirty dishes in the kitchen, but my god, the rings around the sinks! And actually, I don't see that he's eaten any food from the fridge, so has he been living on take-outs? I don't want to know where the rings came from.

He did feed my fish. He overfed them in fact. The water in all three tanks were yellow, fish poop all over the place. Some of the fish got huge. I spent a good part of my return cycling the water and vacuuming the waste and excess food from the tanks.

The Boy has asked us never to include him in this type of vacation again. Whenever our guests left, he was bored out of his mind. There was nothing to do but watch TV. He would rather be with his friends, who would rather stay in the city and do city things. He was bored most of the time during our Maritime trip in the summer too. I think family vacations with The Boy are over. I was warned this would come.

And now, I have to clean the house and cycle the fish water some more, then get to work on more grant writing and web site development research. Ah well, I still enjoyed the week away.