What was most difficult about it was the silence, truthfully.

Russell thought I'd be partying out or something because I didn't have kids and asked me if I was going to be really liking being by myself. I assured him that I was going up to get stuff done and that it wasn't much of a party. I unloaded all of the planters -- about 10 (some 5-10 gallon pots) and all of our household pictures. When I got that done, I realized I'd forgotten a pillow, needed hooks for the three hanging plants, and I could really use a trash can.

I went to the 24 hour K-mart in our new town to get a pillow, plant hooks, and a trash can at 1030PM. While I was there, I poked around for shirts and shorts for me for summer. I actually tried on each item and I hunted each rack for the best deal and selected items that would match with more than one item of clothing. I also got out of the store with everything I meant to buy.

It was really really quiet, though.

I got into bed telling myself that I should be enjoying it. I tossed. I turned. I finally went downstairs, got the ibuprofen and the radio. I played the radio for a while until I fell asleep.

I've got some damned early-rising new neighbors. At 8 someone was mowing their lawn. All I could think is, what kind of blue collar people get up at 8 and mow their lawns on a Saturday? And then my next door neighbor, was out front on the sidewalk with some kind of power saw. I gave up and got moving.

I got all the plants transplanted and I went to Wal-mart and got a few more things to fill in some holes where some of the annuals in the pots have died out. I then moved plants around to various pots and got things pretty. Then I hosed down the patio which was a mess of soil.

I was kind of bummed in the middle of getting all the pictures put away in the closet, I inadvertently broke the glass on one of my favorite pictures. There's something about the way he holds her head so intimately and drapes his cape over her shoulders and they way that they seem to be standing on what seems to be the flowers of her dress. Mike knew I loved this picture and found it at one of those poster extravaganza's at the university and brought it home to me. I cried.

So when I broke the glass today, I cried. It's stupid. It probably cost him $10 or something, but you know. It had been so quiet and I was surprised at how much I missed him and the kids. We called each other about 5 times.

I called him last before I left to drive back home. When I came through the door, the baby went beserk. I picked her up and gave her a big hug and she hugged me back. I didn't think a baby could hug so tight! Then I had to run to the bathroom and she just followed me down and kept getting hugs and then Daddy would take her away.

When we left to go to dinner, I looked at Russell and asked him where my hug was and got a good old-fashioned Bear hug. After we put the baby down, I read to him for a bit and we just hung out in bed together goofing around and talking about dinosaurs.

I've been having a hard time identifying where home is, lately with all this back and forth.

For now, I've decided that home is where the hugs are.