"Oh where,oh where can my baby be...?"

Today feels like a disaster. It feels like the continuation of yesterday with a solid headache thrown in for good measure. The biological clock is amazingly resilient considering the fluctuating routines it’s going through at the moment. Of course, it’s not in such great shape, but hey I ain’t complaining. At least it’s still functional.

The Son and his Daddy are off on a holiday. Daddy needs a break from the daily 13-hour nonsense. So Daddy, who had a scruffy beard and longer-than-usual hair, got the Son all fit and handsome and both of them rode off.

Mommy on the other hand is wondering what to do with all the silence. She can’t call Daddy to say good morning, can’t message him frequently, can’t call at mealtimes, or talk to him at night. Mommy tries to fill her time by talking to other people and updating Grandpa about Daddy’s whereabouts but she can’t shake off the feeling of loneliness. It just hangs around her, catching her unaware and making her mouth droop.

This is the first time she has been away from them. She thought she’d make it through fairly easily. She thought they all needed a change. She knows now that she couldn’t have been more wrong. She throws herself into work but to no avail. There’s nobody to come home to and share gossip with. No one to pamper or speak to in Baby-Talk. Nobody to make fun of or fight with. Nobody to wrestle with playfully.

Her meals are solitary and perfunctory. She doesn’t really notice what she’s eating. The vegetables lie uneaten in her plate since there isn’t anyone to chide her into finishing them. She looks at the last bite sadly, wondering what Daddy is eating and remembering all the times he’s insisted on taking the last sip or bite out of whatever she’s been drinking or eating.

Everyone who even remotely resembles Son or Daddy catch Mommy’s eye now. Few more days, she tells herself. When she talks to her parents and Daddy is mentioned, she smiles wistfully in fond remembrance. Every time she puts her footwear on she remembers that she’d forgotten to give him the extra cushioning for his trekking shoes. She wonders how he’s getting by without them.

All through the day, she wishes she had gone with them instead of staying back. And at night before she falls asleep, she sends a silent prayer to keep them both safe and to pray that the rest of the wait is through in the blink of an eye.