Home at last ... thank god almighty he's home at last

Don't get me wrong, Paul and I lead relatively independent lives; I do my thing ... he does his thing and on weekends it's generally, one day on, one day off. It's perfect.

During the week it's hectic. I don't get home from work until around 8pm and that's if I come straight home from work. And, Paul may not even come home at all (he works away, a lot of the time). So when it comes to spending time together during the week, we pretty much write that off. Friday nights tend to be our evening. Saturday and Sunday nights tend to be our evenings too and possibly one day in between.

Him going away to Australia for four weeks however put a spanner in that thinking for me. Socially, I was busy. Busier than I have ever been before. And not by design either, generally by coincidence. My friend AM came and stayed with me first for two nights and then again for a full week. This entailed lots of girly evenings and even more touristy days and nights. At one stage I was sharing my bed with the lovely Marg whilst Nic and Annemarie slept downstairs ... oh the visions many of my male friends conjured up! There were evenings out to pubs, dinners out with friends, brunches ... you name it.

But during this time, a day didn't go by when I wasn't in contact with Paul. We would instant message on Yahoo first thing in the morning and then on messenger during the day when I was at work, we chatted on the phone a couple of times (and for us to speak on the phone for any longer than one minute is generally a miracle) and of course there were the long emails. I felt like I was in more contact with him whilst he was on the other side of the world than I am with him in my everyday life. I LOVED it.

But four weeks is four weeks, and regardless of how social I had been and how in contact we had been I really started to miss him. So when Tuesday 8 May came around, I skyved off from work early to surprise him at the airport. That was 4 days ago and I have barely let him out of my sight since. He ain't going anywhere until I get my fill of him. No more staying out late during the week, and one day together during the weekend? Forget that! Of course, next week I'll be back to normal, I promise (Paul ... I promise!). Besides, the rat is off to Provence, France for 6 days from next Sunday ...