It’s hard right now. Severe reverse culture shock. I’m a free man and I don’t know what to do with myself. Kymberlee left 24 hours ago for a 10 day trip to SoCal. My girl is in Huntsville at Grand/Cousin Camp. Thank God for Doodle, or I’d be completely driftless just taking care of myself.

Ironically, as I dust off and try on this ill-fitting bachelor suit, today is the 8th anniversary of our engagement day. My wife is enjoying staying exactly where she was staying on the day of our engagement, so she gets to enjoy the long walks on the beach and the beautiful sunsets while I can only relive the memories. I hope reality is as good as my memories.

I’ve never been alone at home this long before, so this is different than a long weekend. It takes a different mindset, one that is marathon focused instead of a sprint. I’ve moved my computer downstairs, as I no longer need a place where I can go and shut my door.

My first night, however, was very familiar. Have dinner in front of the glowing screen, watching a whole episode uninterrupted, then deciding that I can watch another episode, guilt free. I’m not sure what I’ll do when I finally finish House of Cards, season 2. I was on a one-episode-a-month pace, and now I might be done by Friday. Goosebumps.

Yes, I miss my girls. Emotionally but not practically. I’m scared to death that I might get used to my way of loading the dishwasher again, then having to adjust back. But I’ll deal with that next week. In the meantime, I’ll be enjoying my music playing from the speakers without anybody wanting to turn it down.

Did I say this was hard?