Two Nights Down, Two More to Go

Mark's off in Cold Spring Harbor, bumping shoulders with important colleagues in the RNA field. And raising more than a few glasses of wine with them too. Rumor has it that Watson celebrated a birthday there last week, which may explain why he hasn't been sighted at the conference this week (a scientific birthday party may just give you a weeklong hangover). So while I'm very happy that Mark is there - networking, getting his research known, finding potential contacts for jobs after he gets his PhD - I'm not happy that I'm without my husband.

I would hazard a guess that most newlyweds don't like to spend time apart. In the nearly eleven months we've been married, I've had to go out of town for a couple days here and there. Actually, the whole time we've been living together (about 2.5 years), I've always been the one zipping hither and thither for a random conference, retreat, or visit. I've never had to experience what it's like to be home alone while Mark was off gallavanting somewhere. And I don't like it.

What's more, the cats don't like it either. This is a new twist for them, too. Mark tells me that they get all cuddly with him when I go away. So I figured that's what they'd do when Mark went away. Nope. Those cats are moping worse than I am. Even *my* cat Addy. This is the cat that would only sit on Mark's lap to fart when he first moved in. I spent the night being lazy in front of the TV, watching reruns. Nosey occasionally snuggled up to me and demanded attention. But Addy plopped herself on the floor and hawked the doorway, as if waiting for Mark to get home. When we go to bed, Nosey is right there waiting for more attention, and she usually commandeers at least half of Mark's pillow or mine to sleep. But not the past two nights. I've barely seen her in the bed.

So now I'm really upset because not only is Mark not here, but the cats are missing him too much to comfort me in his absence. This sucks.