I'm One Tough Cookie. Right?

My husband informed me, after getting off the phone with his parents, that his sister and her husband had been apart for a week for the first time in their marriage (brother-in-law on a business trip).  We do not have the other version of the story, but Jeff's parents said that Jeff's sister couldn't take it anymore, left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa, and flew to Baltimore to be with him. 

My jaw dropped.  Jeff has been gone for a week many times over the past 5 years.  Throw in the less-than-a-week trips, and the number jumps dramatically.  Now, I don't have the luxury of family in town, but I could not imagine how the story would have been told if I had jumped on a plane out to San Francisco one of those times out of last minute desperation.  

That's the "Woe is me" talking.  When I think about it, I would have crawled for help over my dead body.  Begging my parents to take the kids and fly out to be with Jeff because he was gone for a week would have smelled like failure in my nostrils.  While I hate when Jeff's gone, I view that as our problem and responsibility, and I like to think I'm tough.  I like others to think it too.

But I have this strange need to prove my worth.  Jeff's sister has none of this.  She possesses an extra share of that Rozelle confidence, and knows how to ask for sweet deals from her parents without guilt.  Who am I to criticize her for her ability to see an opportunity for a getaway with her husband and seize it? 

I hope they had a great time.  I love my sister and brother-in-law, and they deserve a good time as much as any other couple. Plus, they are newbies to this business trip stuff, and truth be known, during Jeff's first long trips I sometimes threw a baby and a second grader in the Matrix for a four hour ride,"We're only stopping for one bathroom trip!", back to Ohio from Michigan.  To run home, because I was lonely.  

I want to send out a heartfelt, huge hug to my 2 year old nephew AJ, who completely wore Grandma and Grandpa out. Not because I have a death wish for my truly wonderful in-laws, but because Anna is no longer alone in the category of "most difficult grandchild"! Now I don't feel so badly about that fit she threw when Jeff and I were at Joshua Tree NP.

Yeah, we've had our getaways too, I guess.