The mancation comes to an end

I used to think of J-girl leaving to visit relatives in Taiwan for weeks at a time as abandonment. I always ended up with at least some of the kids and both parents' amount of work. Then she would want me to call her every day so that she could tell me about how much she missed me and how hard it was without me, and have me comfort her. Let's just say I resented it a little bit.

But this time was different. I was left with two boys, ages 18 and 15, and by now, they are capable of cooking, cleaning, and generally taking care of themselves. They are actually good company, and we have many similar interests. We didn't have any girls around to corrupt us with their girly ways. And so we lived like guys like to live.

Let me first say what living the "guy life" in our family is not. It does not mean that the house becomes filthy, that we eat out at every meal, that we never have vegetables, that we go camping or fishing or shooting, or that we neglect personal hygiene. We kept the house as clean as it is when the girls are around, ate out only once in three weeks, had vegetables and fruits at every meal, never stepped foot in the great outdoors, and bathed and shaved regularly.

So what did we actually do that was manly, you might ask. Let me tell you. We worked out every day. We moved around the house freely since it was not cluttered by girly craft projects. We played video games when we wanted to. We said exactly what was on our minds when asked what we wanted or preferred, and didn't take offense when others spoke their minds. We watched kungfu movies. We worked side-by-side in the kitchen making cookies. We told stories about the stinkiest gas we had ever produced or smelled. We all got up on time to read scriptures together. Basically, we lived undemanding lives with zero drama.

The girls came home yesterday after being gone for three weeks. We were glad to see them. I listened to Little J for nearly 40 minutes as she showed me the latest additions to her Asian eraser collection. We laughed and joked in ways that I hadn't for 22 days. Then I sat next to J-girl as we watched America's Got Talent. She snuggled into me.  I had to be a little strategic as I tried to find spot on the coffee table for my feet that wasn't covered by Little J's latest craft project. But I also had that content, everything-is-right-again-in-the-universe feeling, which left me not the least bit sad to see the mancation come to an end.