Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and yes, I do have my responsibilities!

Yeah, while my wife is away you probably thought it to be a vacation of sorts for me also but let me set the record straight: I do have some daily chores to accomplish. Thinking about ‘the list’ is what I am writing about today on this Thursday, June 4, 2009. The number one thing I am concerned about is to make sure her plants do not die on my watch. They can do whatever they desire to do when she is around and if they go belly up, “Oh well!” but while I am in charge they will have water. I can’t do anything about the armadillos currently terrorizing our neighborhood and I can’t stop the moles from churning their passageways underneath the flowerbeds, but I do know how to turn the sprinkler on.

I also most likely need to soon make an executive decision concerning when to pull the trigger on washing a load of clothes. That decision can probably wait another day or two along with when it becomes a priority to make the bed. I pretty much sleep in the same little spot every night, therefore, it seems like such a waste of time and energy to make it up each day as if Better Homes and Gardens are scheduled anytime soon for a photo shoot in our home. She is very disciplined about making the bed. She gets up and typically right away makes the bed. I really admire her for being committed to this task. She is a great example and inspiration but I still think, given the circumstances, where I am so focused on the plants, I do not want to muck up my ‘to do list’ with conflicting priorities.

As far as the kitchen is concerned I’ve done my best to not mess up too many dishes because that would create the need for me to wash them and that would require soap, water, and electricity, therefore, I am trying to conserve. You probably would not have guessed me to be so sensitive to the global warming threat but there you have it, you learn something new every day. She typically comes back on Saturday morning and if I were to follow my usual practice there would be a blurred flurry of activity even as she is in route. It would be my challenge to make very good use of the nearly four hour drive time. HOWEVER, I learned yesterday that she will be coming home on Friday morning. All bets are off. I will now have to scramble to get the Saturday morning plan activated early! Wow! Panic! Time to take some deep breaths, count to 10 or whatever else I can think of! Looks like I will be having a very busy Thursday evening. But no one ever said that being a responsible husband would be easy but we do what we can and then hope for the best while whispering a little prayer for those dumb plants because they had better not do anything stupid until she returns! Have a great day and may God bless! Amen. …..More later.