Susan being away from home for a week isn’t anything new. In her last position at work she was visiting Washington DC up to one week each month. We have a pretty good system for when this happens. Before she leaves, Susan cleans the house and stocks the refrigerator with easy-to-prepare frozen meals. Then the kids and I spent the entire week eating out for every meal and leaving trash everywhere. A few hours before Susan is set to arrive home, I wheel in one of the big outside trash dumpsters into the entry hallway and spend a few minutes throwing away sacks of trash and leftovers.

Next week Susan will be in Canada (Montreal) for work. Last night, Morgan came down with a fever and was diagnosed with the flu. Sadly, this is also not new. I remember the time Susan was out of town and Mason came into my room and announced “I’m spitting!” shortly before throwing up in my face. I never know what to do when the kids are sick. I pretty much rotate giving them Pepto, cough syrup, DayQuil and Advil until either they feel better or they’re drunk. Or maybe I get drunk and they drink the cough syrup? I forget. I’m pretty sure I get drunk at some point though.

With Susan being out of the country she won’t be able to call home like she normally does. We’re hoping to use the hotel’s WiFi for Facetime. We’ll see how that works. Fortunately Montreal, despite being pretty far away, is only one time zone away.

I’m really not worried about Morgan being sick; she got her Tamiflu last night and will be better in a couple of days. I’m not even worried about myself getting sick. (I’ve been hungover before from drinking four bottles of Strawberry Hill Boones Farm — how bad can the flu be?) I’m more worried about Mason getting sick, because I know that’ll mean time off of work for a doctor visit and time off of school (and a potentially miserable couple of days) for him. Fortunately thirteen-year-old boys are known for their sanitary habits and there’s no possible way he could catch the flu from his sister. I’m also a little worried that Susan’s been exposed. Nothing says fun like flying all day while sick.