Glad To Be Back Home

Last evening I returned to Minneapolis after two weeks of legal work in Houston, and I am very, very glad to be back home. Although I was only away for fourteen nights, it felt more like fourteen months.

The past two weeks were the first time Joshua and I have ever been apart and, in that regard, the past two weeks were very painful. I missed Josh terribly the entire time, and I had a great deal of trouble sleeping at night. I am very grateful that the two weeks are over.

The past two weeks were also the first time I have been apart from my parents for any prolonged period of time since I returned to the Twin Cities after graduating from law school. I missed my parents terribly the past two weeks, too, and I told them this last night over a late dinner at their house (my parents and Josh had held dinner last night, waiting for my arrival; I was dropped at my parents' house just past 8:00 p.m. last night by one of the attorneys from my firm who had also been on the Houston trip).

In fact, last night I said to my parents "I don't know how I ever got through seven years of undergraduate work and law school, being so far away from home". When I said this, my parents looked at each other, and my father said "And WE don't know how WE got through those seven years, either. We were just asking ourselves that very question last night!"

Happily for everyone, Josh had my parents for companionship the last two weeks, and my parents had Josh for companionship the last two weeks, and it worked out splendidly. Josh had my mother's company until he went to work each morning, and he had my mother's and my father's company on evenings and on both weekends.

They did not do anything special the last two weeks; mostly, they just stayed home, and read books, and watched college basketball games on ESPN, and played with the dog. Josh loves to read, and he would sit in the kitchen in one of the rocking chairs and read, and my father would sit in the kitchen in another of the rocking chairs and read, and my mother would sit in the kitchen in yet another of the rocking chairs and read and do crossword puzzles, and the dog would rest at their feet, snoozing. This was the perfect way for each of them to spend the cold January nights and weekend days.

In Houston, I was extremely busy, which was all to the good. I had wanted to find time to visit the Houston Museum Of Fine Arts, America's sixth-largest art museum, but I was unable to do so, as I had to work every single day. I did, however, make it to one concert of the Houston Symphony and two performances of the Houston Grand Opera at night.

It is good to be back home. Josh and I will just stay home by ourselves until Saturday night, when we will go with my parents to a concert by the Minnesota Orchestra, a Beethoven-Sibelius concert we agreed before Christmas to attend with my parents.

We have still not decided what our plans are for the coming three-day weekend in February, and we will make a decision this coming weekend.