Distance Hurts

"In moments of great stress, every life form that exists gives out a tiny subliminal signal. This signal simply communicates an exact and almost pathetic sense of how far that being is from the place of his birth. On Earth it is never possible to be further than sixteen thousand miles from your birthplace, which really isn't very far, so such signals are too minute to be noticed. Ford Prefect was at this moment under great stress, and he was born 600 light years away in the near vicinity of Betelgeuse. "
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

HWMBO works away..................a lot.

He is often in Europe, that's fine it's a few days at a time, up to 4.  Not enough to even notice in the normal blink of an eye.  Time zones are irrelevent.  It's fine.

He is often in America, up to 9 days or so as he tags weekends away onto the trips, he went to New York and also once tagged on Canada and baseball.   It feels like he is 'away' when he is there, harder to get the times right to be able to talk.

But now he is in Australia, and that distance really hurts.  From the moment he leaves I miss him. And oddly he says the same thing to me.  I don't know whether it is about him going home without me or if it is the distance.  It is almost impossible to have a conversation at all. Let alone a congruent one.  He calls sleepily from his bed  as he wakes when I am busy at work.    Or when he is happy and relaxed in his day and wanting to talk, I am tired and going to bed.  You can't maintain relationships over those sort of time zones.  And he is away for much longer, a full 14 days this time.

It's a funny feeling.  I don't like Australia much.  Yes, it has a lot of coastline and sunshine but there is an over bearing culture that I did not align to whenever I was there and it has not left me pining to go back.  But a holiday is a holiday and time spent apart when half of a couple is on holiday without you is hard. And he will be meeting up with friends I love spending time with.

So maybe I am a little jealous of his chauffeur journey to the airport, his business class flights and his 2 weeks in the sun but mostly, I just miss him.  If he were in France right now I'd just be shrugging and saying "bring back cheese".  But I don't want another (yes another) kangeroo scrotum pouch and vegemite, I just want HWMBO home.

It seems a long way away, but it's not really is it.