Today is day 18 of Lindsey and the boys being away from me. They took off shortly after we arrived in Fargo for a family reunion in Utah. The reunion has ended but they have been staying at Lindsey’s parent’s home waiting for me to fly out to Vegas, so we can all go to my family reunion in southern Oregon. Needless to say, we have been away from each other for way to long and I really miss my family. I missed Jude waking up in the morning and telling me he got lots of good sleep. I miss Jack’s obsession with cereal. I missed Ezra’s happy smile and determination to be in everything. I miss Jack’s references to garbage and Jude’s feisty attitude. I missed sitting down with Lindsey at the end of the day to talk about the good and the bad and how we are going to tackle the next day.

So, what does a guy do without his family? Initially I spent my time reading, packing so we can move into our home that is being built, cleaning, and working long hours. This left me burnt out and feeling sick. The fact that Lindsey wasn’t feeding me healthy food probably added to my weakening condition. At one point, I actually went to sleep in the corner of a bathroom at work for 15 minutes, because I thought I was going to pass out in a meeting. (Hopefully my boss doesn’t read this! Don’t worry though—I’m not hourly.) As I stepped back and realized how poorly I was taking care of myself, I started to slow down so as not to self-destruct. The rest of my time was filled with some extremely lazy moments of playing on my iPhone, as well as some moments were I actually took advantage of opportunities that I wouldn’t have had with my family home.

Unique things I did:

1.       The first night I slept from 5:45pm to 4:30am

2.       Traveled to and attended the Bismarck temple

3.       Saw the largest sandhill crane in the world and possibly the universe!

4.       Attended different churches on Sunday (Lutheran, Presbeterian, Catholic, and Baptist)

5.       Called old friends

6.       Took up running

7.       Repeated #1 above

Okay. My list isn’t that long. Maybe I could have taken better advantage of being a bachelor and done more cool things.

 Who would have thought the world's largest sandhill crane would be located in Steele, ND. I spotted this guy driving back from the temple and had to stop. Who wouldn't?  I think this bird feels the void I was feeling as a result of no longer living close to Barstow, CA which is home to the largest thermometer in the world (not pictured).

I had to take this picture because it represents the one true meal I cooked since my family left. (I mostly stuck to sandwhiches.) It was supposed to be a pot pie, but I didn't have enough canned potato soup. So, I substituted a can of clam chowder for the potato soup and called it good. It didn't turn out to be the most amazing meal I've ever had but it did the trick. Can you still call it pot pie when it has seafood inside? I think this might be a new Thanksgiving tradition!