Kevin’s left for the…

Kevin's left for the airport -- he'll be gone to Ohio for a few days, giving a talk. Back on Wednesday. There was some chaos just before he left -- he was trying to help me mount the new ceiling fan (our old one broke long ago, and with summer coming...), but it was just slightly too difficult for us to manage without either a) a taller ladder for me to stand on and help him, or b) one of us being a few inches actually taller. Kev's 5'9" or so -- if you're in the area, taller, and want to help me put up a ceiling fan in the next day or two, I'll feed you a nice, home-cooked dinner. :-) Drop me a line. If I can't find someone to help, I'll just wait 'til he gets back -- we can borrow another tall ladder from the condo maintenance people, and then I think we can manage okay. In the meantime, though, I've got exposed wires hanging over my head (very high over my head) in the bedroom, so the fuse is staying off in that room (and that bathroom) for the duration. Is okay. I can go to bed in the dark.

Anyway, I was talking about the chaos. That wasn't actually the chaos -- or at least, it was only part of it. Kev was originally planning on taking the subway to the airport -- about an hour ride. By the time he would have needed to leave, it seemed like we were actually going to manage the installation if he could just stay a little longer (yes, we should have started it earlier in the day, but we were busy playing computer games then, and we couldn't just abandon our poor peasants to the enemy attack, could we?) -- and since it's Sunday night, it's only about a twenty minute drive to O'Hare. So I said I'd drive him, and we worked on the dang thing another half hour, and then admitted defeat (against the ceiling fan, not against the computer game enemy, which we routed handily). He went to grab his bags, I put on sandals and went to get my car keys...

...which were nowhere to be found. After a few minutes of futile looking around, I realized that in fact, Roshani still had them (due to some chaos on the anniversary day and R & I being late coming back from Milwaukee (mostly due to her getting turned around, twice, in Kenosha), which resulted in her dealing with moving Zoe and her car seat back from her car to mine (which we had taken because her car is acting up a bit and we weren't sure it could handle a long drive), while Kev and I rushed off to dinner, so Roshani kept my car keys, and I forgot she had them (and she's probably forgotten she has them too, at this point)), which wouldn't be a big deal normally except that at this point in the story, Kevin can't take the subway to the airport anymore, because he'd miss his flight.

So he drove his car. Simple solution, right? Except that his car is stick shift, which I can't drive, so I couldn't go with him and drive it back, so he parked it in long-term parking, which is $25 a day, and he's not coming back 'til Wednesday, so he called me from the airport and told me where he parked, and now I'm just hoping I can find someone local who drives stick and is willing to go out to the airport with me and pick up Kevin's car before the parking charges get too outrageous.

See, this is the problem with couples. Most of the time you're fine, but every once in a while, you realize that the resources of a third adult person in the household would be very very helpful. I miss Karina. (Not that she can drive stick either, but maybe if she'd still been around, I would have noticed sometime before today that I didn't have my car keys anymore. Because she would have wanted to go somewhere. Which would have been helpful, as it turns out.)

I also miss Kevin. I got cold about an hour ago, and went to change clothes, and instead of putting on my clothes, I put on his flannel pyjama pants and his old blue t-shirt, and his incredibly soft fleece sweatshirt. And they don't smell like anything, which is a shame, because I'd rather they smelled like him. Which would be mostly like Ivory soap, but not entirely.

It'll be good to have a few days to myself, of course -- I might even get some writing done tomorrow. But right now, I'm wishing my boy were home.

3 thoughts on “Kevin’s left for the…”

  1. Mary Anne, I will be glad to teach you how to drive stick shift if we are ever in the same place at the same time with enough spare time. I have a good record, having taught two daughters and an ex wife, all of whom are quite proficient, and still speak to me.

  2. I actually have driven stick — Sherman taught me, and we went around a parking lot several times. But a) it was a long time ago, b) just regular driving still scares me, and c) I want to get in a fair bit of practice with someone else in the car before I try to do it much on my own. So it’s not that I need teaching so much as I need practice time. I’ll get to it sometime, I’m sure. 🙂 But thanks, David…

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