One week to go

I’ve been in Costa Rica for over three weeks now. Three weeks away from Alex and Mi Pequeña Niña. Each day has been a challenge being so far away from them. The longest I’d ever been away before was six days. Six short days. That was hard — I missed them both a lot, and that was just after spending over two weeks with them every waking moment.

My well, you could say, has run dry. I have nothing left in my reserves. I want to go home now. I want to be with them both right now. If I could just get on a plane and go there this afternoon, I would.

But I have to wait another week.

I’d be dead without Skype. Until yesterday, we had no working phone with which to call North America. None. So calling home would have been impossible. Renting a cell phone is possible, but the cost of use is akin to certain sexual practises that are considered illegal under most western laws. Skype — Video Skype, to be specific — has allowed me to keep in touch with my darlings. I’d be lost without it. But even then, it’s been almost a month and Mi Pequeña Niña has grown and developed a lot in that time. She pulls herself up to standing in her crib. She holds her bottle. She eats a lot better with her hands.

And I’m not there.

I travel back in a week to finish the packing and moving jobs. Then it’s final — my family and I are out of Calgary. I’ll be so happy to be with them again. It seems like forever.

I’m so not cut out to be a bachelor anymore…