Injuries, cereal.

Andreas left for Tennessee yesterday morning at the crack of dawn. I always hate when he goes away on business trips but for some reason, the crack of dawn goodbyes are the hardest. We’re all warm and cozy, and then it’s beep beep and tired sighs and quick kisses goodbye and before I know it, the sheets on his side are cold and I’ve got that heaviness that settles into your chest sometimes. You know the one I mean? When your person leaves?

Anyways, I guess part of it comes from the fact that I don’t really like being all alone for too long. I mean I can appreciate having the place to myself for a few hours just like anyone else. I love those couple of hours before Andreas gets home from work where I can just unwind by myself. Or sneaking out of bed on Sunday mornings to quietly drink coffee and read blogs in the sunshine.

But I also relish the moment I hear his footstep on the stair in the evening or making him a cup of coffee when he finally wakes up on those lazy Sunday mornings. Plus I just like having him here, it’s not really home without him.

And of course on the one night when he’s not here and I have the TV all to myself, there is absolutely nothing on that I really want to watch. And on top of that, I gave myself one of the worst kitchen-related injuries I’ve ever had last night. I’m talking slicing right through my FINGERNAIL. You know, when you cook as much as I do, you get used to the little knicks and burns earned in the kitchen. They’re kind of like little tiny badges of honor. And you basically expect that one day, you’ll be in for a pretty bad one.

But in my book, slicing through my finger + being home alone = among my worst nightmares. Not to mention my extreme fear of blood and injuries of any kind. So when, while slicing peppers for a supposedly delicious Bulgarian pepper casserole, I cut into my finger and the blood instantly welled up and I knew I was all alone, well, it was a low moment indeed.

So what did I do? Call Andreas and pout of course. Oh yeah, and somehow I managed to quickly grab a paper towel, apply pressure and sit down to slow my blood flow. Instincts, I suppose. Eventually the bleeding stopped and I decided to continue cooking, but as soon as I began chopping a tiny pindrop of red welled up in the middle of my nail and that’s when I knew it was time. I called it a night and had cereal instead.

I guess that’s one good thing about being home alone. You can scratch dinner plans in favor of cereal at the last minute. Because the only mouth you have to feed? Is your own.