So Far Away From Me

Rob's shot of Times Square taken at about the same time as my shot below

My blurry photo of the Golden Gate taken concurrent with Rob's above.

I think the first question should be: why is his camera so much better than mine?

On Tuesday of this week, I left for a conference in Napa Valley with one of my fellow midwives.  Rob was between trips in Newark and had so little time off, he did not go home but went into the city instead.  Just after I landed, I texted him this:

Could we be any further apart geographically and still be in the continental U.S.?

His response: (of course he took it as a literal question!) Yes, if you were in San Diego and I was in Portland, Maine. 

Love him! 

But, man this has been a long, tough week.   Challenging and inspiring to be at a conference on Integrative Women's Health.  But, today, as I sit at the airport in Tulsa, OK, finally looking forward to seeing my sweet love after a whole week apart, I feel like I am setting a personal record for time spent loitering in airports.  

Yesterday, I flew as a ticketed passenger, so my travel woes were no different than anyone else's.  I had to leave the conference by shuttle bus at 8am to guarantee I made it to SFO in time for my noon flight.  Long, uncomfortable flight from west to east.  Then I sat in ORD for hours waiting for my 9:20 flight home, which was delayed due to maintenance issues for 2 hours.  As we were finally boarding, I asked the captain if his crew was flying the plane back to ORD in the morning, since I'd be on it.  I was scheduled as a standby passenger at 9:30.  He said yes, but that the flight would very likely have a two hour delay to accommodate the minimum rest requirements of the crew. 

Knowing that a two hour delay would cause me to miss my connection, I decided to play it safe and book myself on the 6:00am  flight.  That meant driving home, unpacking and repacking, climbing into bed for two hours and leaving for the airport again.  Ouch!  I skipped coffee to maximize my sleep time this morning, had a glass of kefir for breakfast, slept on the plane to Chicago, and then found a nice, comfy (Ha!), bench to sleep on for a couple of hours there.  Now, having arrived in Tulsa about 2 hours ahead of Rob, I'm nursing a mild migraine brought on by this airport lifestyle I've been engaging in for the past two days.  He offered to call ahead to the hotel to see if they'd let me check in ahead of him, but there's my airport loitering record to think of.  Once I get through the "getting home" dilemma of tomorrow, I'm sure I will have logged some serious time.

But, soon, he will be here.  And tonight is date night!  Sometimes, when it gets desperate, and Rob has a long overnight somewhere, I will fly to join him for the evening.  This makes those long stretches when we are so far apart, just a little more bearable.