My wife and I leave for a trip to Pittsburgh very early in the morning.  The kids will be staying at my parents” house.  The plans for taking the kids over there have been very fluid.  My mom said, "Bring them when you”re ready.  After dinner is fine.  Before dinner is fine, but we eat at five o”clock."  If you couldn”t tell from their preferred dinner time, my parents are mostly retired (Mom has a part-time job).  I had told my wife that I would like us to all go out to eat together.  Money is actually pretty tight right now (this trip was paid for months ago), so the question was whether I would get my student loans and such in time.  If so, then I would pay for us to go out to eat.  If not, then we would have dinner at home.

I wanted to go to bed early last night, but sleep wouldn”t come.  I finally passed out around 4:00am.  I never heard the alarm go off to say it was time to get our son ready for school, but she got up and took care of it.  I woke briefly to hear her in the shower about an hour ago, and drifted back to sleep.  I finally woke, drenched in sweat, approximately fifteen minutes ago. 

First, I called my bank to see if the funds went through.  They did, so I threw on some pyjamas, brushed my teeth, and ventured into the rest of the house.  She was in the kitchen, putting on a coat.  She was surprised to see me up and about.  I told her that I got my money, so I could pay for dinner.  She was fine with that.  I asked if there was anywhere she wanted to go, but there wasn”t.  She said it was entirely up to me.  Okay, I guess that”s fine.

There was a pause as she realized I was staring at her coat and purse.  Finally, she lifted a package of photographs and said, "I”m going to try and find a frame."

I said, "Okay.  I”m going to take a shower and see about getting a haircut."  When you get money once a semester, things like haircuts tend to happen that often as well.

She said, "Okay."  Then there was another pause.  The she said, "I might be going out tonight after we drop off the kids."

I think I made a face or something, because she flinched.  I said, "Okay, see you in a bit."  Then she left.

Might be going out?  Like she has some sort of doubt.  At least this time I won”t be stuck at the house watching the kids.  I have the option of going out tonight, too.

Now I just have to keep myself from using that option to follow her.