5 days, 6 hours and about 25 minutes...

That's how long m has been away on business. And what have I done in the absence? Not a whole heck of a lot. Granted, I finished marking my holdover papers, got my inbox down in size, made some appointments, went to some appointments, bought cat food for the maniac who insists on waking me up at 6:30, taught three classes, worked on a policy document, did some laundry, rearranged the front entranceway, and general everyday maintenance stuff, but really it's been a sort of day in, day out kind of existence with not a whole lot of anything else. More about puttering around and filling time than actually using the open space to get down dirty with anything remotely resembling actual productivity...and more like making mental lists of what we can do when m returns. For someone who used to revel in the freedom of independent living, this is a weird place to be in. And I'm amazed that it took me over 4 years to really realize it.