Tuesday – A Longer Than Average Commute
Aug. 26th, 2008 03:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ninanevermore.
.
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Today on my drive into work, I was thinking about my trip to California the other week, which already seems like it was years ago. As a spectacularly unimportant person at every company I've ever worked at, it was the first time a job ever required that I travel before. Growing up, my father's job send him all over the globe, and I had the odd collection airport gift shop souvenirs to prove it: snow globes, key chains, t-shirts, stuffed animals, a cheap doll with wooden shoes that said "Holland" across the front of her dress, and eveb a hand carved wooden I-still-don't-know-what-the-heck-it's-supposed-to-be (A horse? An ox? A dolphin?) from the Philippines.
My father hated traveling for business, and after 39 years I finally discovered why: traveling for work is still work, but with a much worse commute. Instead of enjoying the change of scenery, you find are still stuck in a very similar environment to the one at your home office.
I suppose I should be happy to report that my 3 year old handled my absence much better than I expected. Early that week, I explained to his teacher at daycare that I would be away from him overnight for the first time in him life, and that I hoped he wouldn't act out. He didn't. Not only did he not bite anyone at school like I fretted about, he didn't seem phased at all by the fact that his mother, the one who brought him into this world and who nursed him at my breasts and has tucked him in to sleep every single day of his life, up and disappeared for three whole days.
"He only asked about you once," my husband said, "he didn't seem concerned after that."
I have never been so disappointed to not receive a biting incident report from the daycare. We put away the Christmas tree, he bites people. His grandmother leaves after a two week visit, and he chomps down on someone who tries to take a toy away from him. We run out of macaroni and cheese? It's time for a toddler tooth tussle. I go away for days on end? His teachers report that he was cheerful, cooperative, and a general joy to be around. The only bites he took that week were out of my heart and ego.
While working off site in California wasn't too different from working on site in Houston, I enjoyed my commute more, probably because someone else was driving. I liked the airports (Salt Lake City, Phoenix, and Long Beach), because they reminded me of shopping malls but with more interesting people to watch. I liked the little puddle-jumper airplains, too, that everyone else seems to hate. The bumpy rides in them made me nostalgic for a wooden roller coaster called The Texas Cyclone that I used to ride at Astro World as a kid (when Six Flags shut the park down a few years ago, it was all I could do to keep from crying). I liked the way the clouds looked from the top, and the way the farmlands look like a patchwork quilt when viewed from a cloud-high perch. I liked the way the mountains look like wrinkled bed sheets on an unkempt earth, and the way the city lights looks like embers of a dying fire from high above them in the night sky.
California? Can't really say much about it, beyond that the smog in L.A. County made me feel right at home, except with a more temperate climate. But the ride to get there and back was a step above my usual drive to work. Instead of strip malls and gas stations like on most days, I saw the Pacific Ocean, fireworks over Dodger Stadium, and the Great Salt Lake in Utah. In a way it was simply another drive into work, but the scenery was much, much better.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * # * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
.
.
Today on my drive into work, I was thinking about my trip to California the other week, which already seems like it was years ago. As a spectacularly unimportant person at every company I've ever worked at, it was the first time a job ever required that I travel before. Growing up, my father's job send him all over the globe, and I had the odd collection airport gift shop souvenirs to prove it: snow globes, key chains, t-shirts, stuffed animals, a cheap doll with wooden shoes that said "Holland" across the front of her dress, and eveb a hand carved wooden I-still-don't-know-what-the-heck-it's-supposed-to-be (A horse? An ox? A dolphin?) from the Philippines.
My father hated traveling for business, and after 39 years I finally discovered why: traveling for work is still work, but with a much worse commute. Instead of enjoying the change of scenery, you find are still stuck in a very similar environment to the one at your home office.
I suppose I should be happy to report that my 3 year old handled my absence much better than I expected. Early that week, I explained to his teacher at daycare that I would be away from him overnight for the first time in him life, and that I hoped he wouldn't act out. He didn't. Not only did he not bite anyone at school like I fretted about, he didn't seem phased at all by the fact that his mother, the one who brought him into this world and who nursed him at my breasts and has tucked him in to sleep every single day of his life, up and disappeared for three whole days.
"He only asked about you once," my husband said, "he didn't seem concerned after that."
I have never been so disappointed to not receive a biting incident report from the daycare. We put away the Christmas tree, he bites people. His grandmother leaves after a two week visit, and he chomps down on someone who tries to take a toy away from him. We run out of macaroni and cheese? It's time for a toddler tooth tussle. I go away for days on end? His teachers report that he was cheerful, cooperative, and a general joy to be around. The only bites he took that week were out of my heart and ego.
While working off site in California wasn't too different from working on site in Houston, I enjoyed my commute more, probably because someone else was driving. I liked the airports (Salt Lake City, Phoenix, and Long Beach), because they reminded me of shopping malls but with more interesting people to watch. I liked the little puddle-jumper airplains, too, that everyone else seems to hate. The bumpy rides in them made me nostalgic for a wooden roller coaster called The Texas Cyclone that I used to ride at Astro World as a kid (when Six Flags shut the park down a few years ago, it was all I could do to keep from crying). I liked the way the clouds looked from the top, and the way the farmlands look like a patchwork quilt when viewed from a cloud-high perch. I liked the way the mountains look like wrinkled bed sheets on an unkempt earth, and the way the city lights looks like embers of a dying fire from high above them in the night sky.
California? Can't really say much about it, beyond that the smog in L.A. County made me feel right at home, except with a more temperate climate. But the ride to get there and back was a step above my usual drive to work. Instead of strip malls and gas stations like on most days, I saw the Pacific Ocean, fireworks over Dodger Stadium, and the Great Salt Lake in Utah. In a way it was simply another drive into work, but the scenery was much, much better.
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no subject
Date: 2008-08-27 06:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-28 03:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-27 03:45 pm (UTC)*HUGS* I'd feel heartbroken too...
no subject
Date: 2008-08-28 03:39 pm (UTC)I think his teachers were relieved, though.