The Other Woman

You really can't make up this stuff........

My husband travels for work.  He's been doing this for the past 27 years.  Before the boys were even born.  Daddy being gone Tuesday through Thursday, two weeks out of every month was the norm. He'd call home every night to chat with the boys and check in on our days events before they went to bed.  That was our SOP.

We only had the three oldest boys at this point in time.  Bedtime was usually a leisurely procedure. As leisurely as you can be with three boys, each two years apart. We'd start with bath time, followed by a book or three, and ending with our bedtime prayers.  Let me tell you, our boys could pray, a lot! They prayed for animals, pets, and people.  Lots and lots of people.  The boys were pretty specific about what some people needed prayers for too.  Needless to say, we started our bedtime ritual much earlier than most of our friends.

I confess that on more than one occasion, when John was out of town and I was completely exhausted, I actually turned the clock forward and hour or so.  I really needed bedtime to come earlier as I was ready to fall out.  (For those of you not familiar with that southern phrase, it means to: shut down, fall into a deep slumber while still standing, going down for the count.)  The clock trick worked until Ben learned to tell time.  Damn his preschool teacher - Miss Donna!

It wasn't logical to him that it was still light outside but the clock said it was 7:30.  He said he'd be right back and then went around the house.  I could hear him going from room to room.  He checked all the clocks.  When he came back into the bedroom I knew what he was going to say.  And he did.   Much to my dismay he proudly announced that we had a problem, we had a faulty clock.  The rest of the clocks in the entire house said it was only 6:30.

That was the end of early to bed for mom.....

John called home one evening to say goodnight to the boys.  It was a rather quick chat, as he was running from the time his feet hit the pavement.  The time change put him two hours earlier than us. After John's call, we said prayers.  Right after prayers #1 son burst out crying.  I had no idea why.  It appeared to have come out of the blue.  When I asked him why he was upset, he looked at me with his big blue eyes - which at this point were leaking huge crocodile tears - and said, "Why does daddy love that other woman?"

You could have knocked me over with a feather.  I looked at him perplexed and asked what he was talking about.  He said, "That other woman that dad always sees.  Why does he love her?".  I assured him that daddy didn't love any other woman but me, but he was so adamant about it I remember thinking.....  John, if there's something this child has found out that I don't know, they'll be searching for your body.  I continued to assure Ben that he and the brothers, along with myself, were the loves of daddy's life.  That he went out of town for work only, not to go and see some other woman.

He finally slowed his crying and in between sniffs asked, "Then why does he always go out of town to see that woman, Attle".  "Attle??" I asked.  "Yes" he responded, "Daddy always go to see Attle!"  I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing.  I then spent the next ten minutes explaining that it was the name of a city, not a lady's name.  Daddy was going to Seattle.  I had to show him the name and location on a map. He finally got it when I explained that it was like our city.  We lived in Mission, not Miss Shun.

With that he wiped up his tears, gave me a big hug and kiss and told me he was glad daddy didn't love any other women.  (Me too!)

John still goes to see that other woman from time to time but not nearly as much as he did years ago.