Boston 2005

Abi and I are off to Boston (MA) on Thursday, for a short weekend break. That’s right, just Abi and I. It’ll only be the second time that we’ll have been away from Fiona for an overnight trip, and it’s the longest that we’ll ever have both been away from Alex. I was on Boston for a few days back in 2003, and Abi attended a bookbinding convention that same year, but apart from those isolated occasions, we have never been apart from the kids for anything more than a very rare overnight stay.

It’s going to be good, but it’s going to be strange. I’m looking forward to the plane trip (I love travelling–being on the move), and to hanging out in Boston again, which is a lovely city. Staying in a hotel, eating out, sightseeing and shopping–it’s all going to be great.

Spending that much time alone again just with Abi is going to be good, too. I know it will be nothing like it, but somehow our first trip to Rome together keeps popping into my mind. That was a great holiday. We saw the sights, we ate wonderful food, and we spent a lot of time sheltering from the afternoon heat in our cool hotel room, reading books, and munching on fruit, bread, and meat bought from the nearby alimentari. (I very clearly remember reading Mike Resnick’s Second Contact and Greg Bear’s Darwin’s Radio.)

But I’m also feeling terribly anxious about leaving the kids behind. They’ll be with their grandma & granda, so they’ll have a wonderful time. But still. Abi and I have got out of the habit of being away from them. We let each other have evenings off, but we only rarely get someone to babysit so we can both have an evening out together. It seems that recently we’ve both been so absorbed in our own housebound activities (bookbinding, computing, etc.) that we haven’t had much interest in “just” going out.

Well, Boston will certainly shake us up a bit. We’re also likely to freeze our asses off. Romantic weekend away in Boston…in February? Brrr….