I finished my work out-of-town last week, and rather than be in people’s way of important work they have to do, I came home. My return flights were uneventful, though I had several cowboy boot sightings at my departure airport, which was nice to see. At least boot watching kept me awake until the plane left.

My partner met me at my home airport with a bouquet of flowers. That was unexpected, and joyful. I scared him a bit when tears rolled down my cheeks. No worries, tears of exhausted happiness.

If I went to bed to try to take an nap, I would not awaken… until after midnight, and then I couldn’t go back to sleep. So I am catching up on things around the house, email, and beginning to plow through stuff that I’ll have to deal with on Tuesday night during a public hearing. No rest for the weary… though this stuff is so incredibly boring, I’m surprised that it hasn’t put me to sleep. I called my family (including my eighth brother — you know who you are!) and caught up a little bit. I found out that we even have a new little one on the way. Life goes on, a day at a time. But life is short. I told each and every one of those with whom I have communicated that I love them very much.

My sweetie is really trying to be nice. He said not to worry about a thing, he has dinner all thought out and he will prepare it shortly. Usually the way we divide labor in our household is that he does all the laundry and I do all the cooking, which I enjoy doing. But today, well, a respite. He has my muddy, dirty, smelly, mildewey clothes in the wash, dinner ready to cook, and the flowers in a beautiful vase that my Mom gave me years ago. How incredibly sweet, thoughtful, and wonderful.

Meanwhile, I’m glowing with love; my partner, my best friend, my lover: what a treasure. I’m eating it up, and if I weren’t so tired… (well, this is a public blog).