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Business Travel and the Lonely Mom
Missing baby
It’s week two of three on a business trip and I’m ogling small children on the street in a way that scares their parents. I have this nearly uncontrollable urge to run over and cuddle them.
Fortunately, I’m not a total nut. But I am going a little crazy from being apart from my young daughter.
When I took the three-week consulting job away from home, I thought I could handle it. Actually, I thought it would be great.
Uninterrupted sleep (my daughter still wakes two, three times a night); quiet mornings reading in bed before work; the freedom to go out at night without consulting anyone.
It was great for a few days, but now I’m having nightmares that my child has gone missing. Each morning, I pathetically imagine her crawling into bed for a morning snuggle.
We talk frequently via Skype, but it makes it worse. I miss her more, and she’s confused.
“Mommy, why are you in that room in the computer?” she asks.
Foolishly, I answer sincerely.
It’s not a room in the computer, I say that first time. It’s the technology that allows her to see me in a room in a hotel.
“Technology” doesn’t ring any bells, nor does “hotel”. She asks if I can come…
