I was thinking today that in the three+ years that takaza and I have been together, I can’t recall that I’ve ever been home alone while he was out of town. I’ve been out of town numerous times, leaving him alone, but never the other way around. It’s a weird feeling, and it hearkens back to my days of bachelorhood. I am and always have been an independent sort, so it’s not like my world is crumbling apart in the four days that he’s gone; in fact, I think occasional separations are a Very Good Thing. They remind us of how we rely on one another, what our identities are as a couple and as individuals. And absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder.

So for those who don’t follow the lafflist community, here’s a quick recap: I dropped Takaza off at the airport on Thursday night. Originally a co-worker of his was supposed to do that, but I happened to be checking the weather in Chicago (lows of 10 above Thursday night) and it occurred to me that he hadn’t packed a jacket – any kind of jacket. I ran home at lunch and picked up his heavy coat, gloves, and a hat, and passed them to him when I dropped him off. I swear, I think I’m becoming my mother. “Remember to wear your hat, dear, you’ll catch pneumonia otherwise…”

That first night alone was…odd. A king-sized bed is mighty empty when there’s only one person in it. I’d thought since I was sleeping alone with no other noises to wake me up I could forgo the earplugs that night (I’m an incredibly light sleeper). No dice. I woke myself up with my own snoring 🙂 I didn’t used to snore that loudly – I wonder what happened?

On Friday night, following a good workout and even better soak in the hot tub, I met up with some of the Gang for a truly delicious meal at a local Japanese place. It had been too long since I had sushi, and I had a very tasty scorpion roll (like a spider roll but with scallions) and a rainbow roll (like a California roll but with tuna, avocado, and whitefish on the outside of the roll). Dessert was tempura-fried bananas with ice cream – quite tasty.

Today, in spite of an early start at 7 AM, I didn’t actually start moving until about noon. Between catching up on the week’s weblogs, my usual comics sites, and an engrossing story of a guy who signed up for Navy Seal PT training, the time just sort of flew by. After reading up on how to fix up the lawn mower and going out to get parts, I gave the lawn a long-overdue mowing – twice. I had to go back and chop up the matted clippings so it wouldn’t smother the grass – had to do some raking too. Maybe next winter I won’t wait five months to cut the grass. After that I made a run to the Land of the Lowest Common Denominator for some blank videotapes (need to get the latest episode of Witchblade off the TiVo), then got fixings for bul kogi (recipe to follow) and chili. I put the bul kogi in to marinate overnight, made up the chili, and here I am bumming around on the sofa, realizing that I need to get up early tomorrow if I’m going to be in Durham at 11:45 AM and still have time to read the paper, drink my coffee, etc. Ah well…

Dan comes in tomorrow night between 9 and 10, weather and the airlines willing. I’m really looking forward to seeing him again.