My husband just got home, this weekend, from spending the last few weeks in Australia. He was there on business, but because of the nature of his business, his trip was also filled with lots of fun. Adding to the reality that he truly loves his job, it was pretty much the best sort of vacation ever. He would likely read this and argue that, no, he would rather his family be with him. While I think he believes this is true, he got to hang out with new friends and spend the whole of his free time bingeing on gross sci-fi movies or geeking out at super uninteresting attractions that he and his engineer friends find enthralling while his family, well, wouldn’t… Don’t get me wrong, he loves the vacations where his family is along for the adventure, BUT the trips down under are likely best reserved for he and his work mates.

I use the word mates because, while my husband can relocate pretty much anywhere and never have his accent reflect that geographical location (unlike myself or his daughters), it only takes him a matter of days in a new plays to pick up on their lingo. His first Skype with Gen, he accidentally referenced her mates instead of her friends. She hasn’t really let the slip go, and since he flew home there have been many other slip ups that make us chuckle (though I’ve never really been to Australia so for the life of me I can’t remember what they were.) He is having difficulty driving on the right side of the road and turning on the blinker rather than the windshield wipers, which makes for really fun trips when winds are howling outside and the snow is whipping about, but hey, it’s good for life to stay exciting. (also, we’re really hoping these things right themselves soon. This wasn’t his first trip down under, but we don’t recall such difficulties the last time. He’s now asking me to move there, something I’ve NO DESIRE to do… His work will take him there again and I fear the next time there may be no adjusting back. Ha!)

All in all, despite his completely wonky sleep schedule, his incessantly reminding me it’s cold here and that he just left 78 degree weather, and my having to surrender his pillow, slippers, favorite sweatshirt and side of the bed (all of which I stole the moment he left town) it’s just really wonderful to have my husband home. It’s hard to find anything wonderful about a Michigan winter laden weekend that comes close to topping that gift.