Things I miss when my husband is in Japan...

So, my hubby has been away on a business trip to Japan since last Friday night, and gets home tomorrow night. A little less than seven days is definitely not the worst trip ever, but it is still long enough to help me appreciate him even more. This is the third time he has gone in the past six months, and I still miss him just as much and am just as excited for him to come home. I will try to spare you the gushing and mushy-ness, but here are some of the little things I miss:

-I miss his and Lorelei's little time together every morning. Every morning, when my child starts squawking (or screaming) through the monitor, sometimes I treat it like an alarm clock and hit the snooze turn it off, roll over, and beg for five more minutes (mama likes her sleep). Not my proudest moment, but I honestly am not even thinking. Allen then gets up, gets her out of bed, and fixes them a bowl of cereal. If I were to come out of the room at this point, I would find two sleepy-eyed buddies in their jammies and bed head eating cereal and watching cartoons (like Pink Panther and Jimmy Newtron, not Blues Clues or Wonderpets, or any of the other things I put on for her). They spend a good 20 minutes together while I rest and marvel at how blessed I am (well, that part normally comes when I am more awake). Then, once Allen needs to get ready for work, Lorelei stays glued to his leg until he is out the door. And let me tell you, if I try to take Miss Lorelei away from her daddy before he leaves for work, it is like removing a limb.

-I miss the convenience of being in the same time zone (or in a time zone closer than 14 hours apart), and knowing that I could pick up the phone at any time and reach him. It is nice to not have to file things in my head for our 15 minutes of conversation a day.

-On the same note, I miss how when we are together, there is not really the need to intentionally SAY so much to communicate how our days were. I can just be with him and conversationally talk about random things (or nothing) as it flows. When we are in front of Skype (God bless Skype by the way), I feel like I need to think of all these interesting topics and things to mention, and my mind draws a blank. It is normally OK because I am spending our whole Skype time trying to keep Lorelei from encrypting my computer.

-I like my cat as much as the next person, but I miss sharing my bed with the hubby. It is just so nice going to sleep and waking up next to someone.

-And on THAT note, I miss the fact that Allen normally is the one who feeds that cat and cleans out the litterbox. Poor Hailey.

-I just miss his presence. His smile, his hugs, his voice, his smell...I know I am in love with my husband, but it is amazing how much about a person one can take for granted until they are thousands of miles away.

Only 26 more hours!