I miss Shannon

Hello world! Welcome to my first blog posting. And I can think of no better blog subject than my wonderful wife.

Shannon works in a call center during various, random hours totaling anywhere from 10 to 40 hours a month. Those 10 to 40 hours provide a nifty and needed source of extra income, but the down side is, well, weeks like this. Shannon has worked Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night this week, completely obliterating any slim chance we may have had during those three days at communicating for more than two seconds without interjecting "Olivia, don't rub that into the couch!" or hearing "Hey Dad, remember that Rampage video game?" Of course, lately, for one reason or another, the kids have been getting in bed past 10:00 so often that most of our conversations usually begin and end with: "I'm tired honey, let's go to bed." Still, those conversations, although brief, constitute contact between us, contact that we both crave if it's gone.

So here I am, typing along in our new blog, without ANY contact with my wife, missing her like crazy. Ironically, both of our kids (Joseph age 4 and Olivia age 2), settled down before 8:00 tonight. We could have had an EXTENDED conversation tonight. Heck, we may have even had time and energy to fall asleep in front of a DVD. Instead, the TV is droning along lazily in the background, and I'm pondering an early bedtime. Sigh....

I hope Shannon doesn't mind me sharing this, but I recently expressed my feelings to her about nights like tonight. A favorite Pink Floyd song invariably wraps my mind around her every time I here it. Here's what I told her about it:

Oh, how I wish you were here.
We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl
Year after year.

So often, when work is wearing me down or the kids are wearing me out, I find that all I really need is your presence. When you’re not there, or when we can’t seem to find those quiet moments together, I crave those moments. I crave having you near. I am soothed by and deeply dependent on your presence.

There you have it. I'm not sure why I shared this. Perhaps it's cathartic to put my heart on display for the world wide web to see. Maybe this is a subconscious outreach to the other half of my heart. Or maybe, just maybe, I just miss my wife. Sigh...

Neal