02 April 2006

Empty house

It's hard to feel completely lonely when surrounded by two dogs, three cats, two ferrets, and a bunny, but the house seems awfully empty right now. I keep finding socks, though, which continues to bring a smile to my face. (Tina is famous for leaving her socks anywhere and everywhere, so before she left she hid socks everywhere in the house. Everywhere - the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, the box of Boca Burgers in the freezer, the ferret food bin. I keep finding them, like Easter eggs, and I won't be surprised if some remain unfound when she returns in six months.)

I've learned an awful lot of things this weekend, from a variety of sources. It's been a real learning weekend. Some of the church-related things I'll blog on later, but I'll just mention one thing I learned here: shaving my head is harder than Tina made it seem.

I know a lot of you are praying for Tina and me. It's deeply appreciated.

5 comments:

WMS said...

Mike, that is bitter sweet. Complex. And I'm here just to go see a movie... hang out or talk when you need to.

Mike Croghan said...

Thanks, man! I'll probably take you up on that. It's weird that, even though she's only been gone three days, since I know it's going to be almost two months before I see her, it's a very different feeling than when one or the other of us has gone away for a week or whatever.

But I'm adjusting to my new semi-monastic way of life. So far, it's actually easier to be disciplined (about exercise, prayer, food, housework, etc.) when I'm not waiting around to find out if Tina's going to offer me an excuse not to be responsible ("Let's just veg out and read/watch a movie instead", "Let's just order a pizza instead", "That's OK, I'll do the dishes", etc.) (Of course, I do my share of offering her excuses too.) When I know it's all on me, my inner J (vs. P on the MBTI - aka anal retentive) comes out and I just get it done. Much to the chagrin of my fat dog, who's in training with me to join Tina on the trail in May. Jogging every day, whether she likes it or not! It's harder to jog when you're pulling a fat dog behind you who refuses to go faster than a double-time walk. :-)

Scott said...

I have always wanted to hike the AT all the way like Cattail is. (I take it she's using that as her trailname as well, right?) I'm sure it will be a life-transforming journey on all levels; physical, emotional and spiritual!

How exactly is she going to be updating her blog? I can't imagine she's dragging a laptop with a satellite link-up with her. lol. I take it she'll be writing to you or calling and then you'll update her site, right?

I wish her the best of luck and will visit her site often. Hope she brought a camera.

Scott said...

Mike, have you ever read the book called "The Man Who Walked Through Time" by Colin Fletcher? You might enjoy it. It was written by the author of The Complete Hiker (and it's updates through Complete Hiker III). Both are good hiking books.

The Man Who Walked Through Time is about his solo trek through the length of the Grand Canyon. Of course the challenges of the two places are different but still might be interesting for you to read.

Scott said...

Whiteblaze.net is a cool site for AT info and journals etc.