Away

This was the fourth time I was away for work on a foreign work trip with Number Son in the care of Archaeologist Husband. This time they also have a birthday to go to; however, you can guess who had bought the present and the card in before hand... Some mothers seem to feel horrible when they leave their children behind but since none of my trips happened before Number One Son’s first birthday I do not feel any guilt. I do miss him but as an archaeologist has said, nowadays we go to the conferences to sleep. Short trips alone give me some quality time with the things I like and time to chat with my friends and acquaintances.

For some time Skype has made video telephone calls easy – if you consider finding the right WiFi network in a block of flats or watching pixels jumping up and down with a general shape of a child easy. Nevertheless, the child sees me and hears my voice. Anyway, Archaeologist Husband spends potentially more time abroad so I will get my quality time with Number One Son sooner or later.

A trip to Finland brings other responsibilities even if Number One Son is not travelling with me. I have to deliver photos of our son to different parties so that people like my mother and his godless-mothers are kept well-informed. I also have to stock Number One Son with Finnish book and find new items to his DVD collection. This time I only bought two books but I managed to find two different CDs from his favourite Norwegian cartoon character and a DVD from sympathetic Swedish cartoon makers so I definitely got a good catch. One could say that I even was slightly carried away. Naturally, I have to bring Finnish bread, coffee and chocolate back and in order to give Archaeologist Husband something to make him to cheer up I do buy his preferred liquorice vodka.

Just as a matter of luck, I was flying back on the May Day Eve with all the people getting ready for the big carnival with the first sights of silly dresses in city centre on my way to the coach station and the market place filled with sellers of colourful balloons, toys and snacks. Angry birds were the flavour of the month with different softtoy birds and pigs filling the airport shop. I decided against buying one since I have to get across London in the underground on my way back quite late in the night and I prefer not be dragging a big bird with me.

The return to home made me feel a little guilty, though, since Number One Son seems to have a more volatile period with a lot of tantrums and quickly temper. He really had missed me but as soon as I was back, his father was his favourite again.