One long week ahead of me.....

December 14/13

So this morning my son left for a week in Mexico with his mom, her boyfriend, and my daughter.

Now under our custody agreement we go one week on and one week off with our son but I almost always still see him at some point during my off week whether it be for a soccer or hockey game, so this week is going to be really tough as I can't remember the last time I went more than 4 days without seeing him.

Before anyone gets up in arms about my only commenting about missing my son rest assured I don't miss him more than her but the truth of the matter is that at 24 she is far more independent and has such an incredibly busy life that a week can go by where I don't see her, though we will chat via phone or text so I know who the current boyfriend is or what her puppy Benji has been up to lately.

I enjoy my time with my son as well as my "me" time as they both offer time doing things I enjoy. When it is time with my son you might find us seeing a movie, grabbing lunch at his favourite place - East Side Mario's, or having a Wii night with some serious battles in tennis, basketball, baseball, bowling, and even archery.

When it is my "me" time, I'll run errands, take in a movie, do some reading, research music, and on the odd occasion that my dating profile actually pays off, maybe meet someone for a drink.

Now with this week being close to month end and year end I'm sure to be busy at work so that will help keep me occupied for a bit, I'll probably do some final Christmas shopping, and maybe even get the basement cleaned up like I've been promising to do for weeks now. Hey, I'm not perfect lol

The one constant this week will be Moki the Wonder Puppy. Granted at almost 2 years and 4 months she can't really be called a puppy anymore, I'm going to refer to her that way as she'll always act like one, just as I hoped when we brought her home back in October 2011.  When my son is with me she can be found fairly close to him as they have a great bond and when it is just me here at the house, well she is usually not too far away. As I write this in my home office I can look to my left and see her laying on her side in the hallway, every now and than opening her eyes to check on me.

It is funny to watch her in the morning when we first get moving as my son likes to take his shower when I take her for her walk and than he closes his bedroom door when he gets out and takes what he likes to call "a little rest". Well the closed door does not sit well with Moki and I wish I could somehow describe the look on her face when she gets to it at the end of the hallway upon our return home. Imagine the most hurt look a dog can give you when you've played some trick on it and than factor that up by 100 and you'll be a quarter way there to the look she sends my way for the closed door, like somehow I've conspired against her....maybe if the little bed hog didn't curl up into a ball right in the middle of the bed he'd let her in sometimes lol

Today as I was sitting on the couch she jumped off the back of it from her prime spot used to monitor everything going on in the house to come sit in my lap and laid her head down on my stomach, looking up at me with the saddest eyes. I rubbed behind her ears and told her I knew how she felt as I was missing the boy as well, whereupon she raised her head, jumped off the couch and an down to his room, only to return a moment later looking even more bummed out.

It dawned on me that even though I'm going to miss my son like crazy it will come nowhere near what Moki is going to feel this week, so now I've got to keep my head up and give her lots of attention in order to help her get through the week. Over the course of the last year Moki has gone from being my dog to our dog to his dog.

So given how cold it is right now, -18 with a wind chill of -30, guess I'll go grab something to drink, find a movie to watch on Netflix, and go and let Moki know she isn't alone.

Wishing everyone a great Saturday night and hopefully a warm one to boot :)

Marcus